When Colorado’s universal preschool program was set to launch, Carly Sargent-Knudson looked forward to full days in the classroom for 4-year-old Rune, paid for entirely by the state.
She qualifies for a specialized education plan to help with speech development, checking a box the state said would make Sargent-Knudson’s daughter eligible for 30 hours per week of free class time, double what’s guaranteed to all children. But facing a flood of demand, the state made a late-summer change that added household income limits at a middle-class level for the extra time, regardless of other qualifying factors.
