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16 <br /> <br />complexes, mobile home parks, and supermarkets in efforts to reach diverse populations in the <br />community. <br /> <br />The district pre-kindergarten program currently operates on an annual budget of approximately <br />$4 million dollars for 267 students. Funding sources are: <br />• $1,300,000 from Head Start <br />• $700,000 from NC-PK <br />• $500,000 from Local Tuition Students <br />• $1,500,000 from Local Funds for EC Support <br />The district estimates that a Universal Pre-K program would cost approximately $15 million <br />dollars to serve approximately 750 students. This estimated cost does not include additional <br />capital funding that would be needed for additional classrooms to serve 500 more students in a <br />Universal Pre-K program. <br /> <br />The 267 students in Pre-K are from the following funding sources: <br />• 116 PK Federal Head Start <br />• 20 Smart Start/NC Pre-K <br />• 131 PK Paid <br />o 30-paid fully by parents <br />o 60-paid through Exceptional Children’s Program <br />o 40+ paid through DSS childcare subsidies <br /> <br />Of the 20 PK classrooms in the district, 14 classrooms are housed inside an elementary school <br />building and six classrooms are housed in a mobile unit on an elementary school campus. All <br />classrooms have 5-star (highest) quality ratings from the NC Division of Child Development. <br />There are currently 4 students on the Head Start waiting list and <br />71 students on the tuition list for PK. <br /> <br />Kindergarten statistics: <br />• 2019-2020 Kindergarten enrollment 837 students <br />• 509 (61%) families indicated their children attended some type of Pre-K <br />• 129 Pre-K students exited a CHCCS Pre-K at the end of the 2018-2019 school year. <br /> <br /> <br />The Orange County Schools’ Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) Programs <br /> <br />There are three types of Pre-K classrooms in Orange County Schools: <br />1. Title 1 Blended Pre-K <br />2. Exceptional Children (EC) Pre-K; and, <br />3. Head Start <br /> <br />Title 1 Blended Pre-K Classrooms <br />The OCS Title I Blended Pre-Kindergarten Program provides a child-centered, developmentally <br />appropriate educational experience for four-year-old children in need of developmental, <br />academic and emotional/social support. The program stresses an environment that motivates <br />learning through exploration and discovery. The goal of the program is to prepare children to <br />enter kindergarten ready and excited to learn and succeed. The design of our program is to <br />support children with the greatest need, so that they will be emotionally and socially ready to be <br />active participants in their own learning. An application process is used to determine which