Need Help Paying for Child Care?

With the average cost of full-time child care for one child over $5,000 a year, many families find it difficult to afford child care so that they can go to work. The School Readiness program provides tuition assistance for child care for income-eligible families.

The School Readiness Program provides tuition assistance for at-risk and low-income working families. Below are some simple reminders and resources for families currently enrolled in the program:

Eligibility is based on purpose for care (employment, in school, etc.) and on a sliding fee scale that factors in household income and number of persons in the household. To determine if you are eligible for participation in the program complete the application below:

• School Readiness Application (pdf 19.71 kB)
• Required Documentation Checklist (pdf 18.97 kB)
• Employment Verification form (pdf 24.37 kB)

Completed applications can be mailed or hand delivered to any one of our ELC Family Service Centers. For further information or questions contact us at 850-385-0504.

Enrollment into the School Readiness program occur when funding allows - otherwise, the ELC maintains a wait list for services and families are enrolled when funding becomes available.

Unified Wait List

The Single Point of Entry (SPE) is a web-based system that parents and guardians use to submit applications for the Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) and school readiness programs. The Unified Wait List (UWL) is a web-based system that coalitions and contractors use to retrieve and manage applications that the public submits through SPE and is available only to users that have a username and password.

For the Unified Wait List Fact Sheet, click here (pdf 24.40 kB) .

Key features and functionality of SPE and UWL

• SPE accept applications for VPK for a child only if the information entered meets the program’s eligibility criteria. SPE does accept all applications for School Readiness programs with eligibility for the programs determined in UWL.
• For VPK applications, a counselor contacts the parent or guardian that submitted the application and arranges an eligibility appointment. The functionality to inactivate VPK applications is available in UWL in instances where duplicate records exist or when a family is non-responsive to a request for an eligibility appointment.
• For School Readiness programs applications, a counselor reviews and verifies the application and determines a child’s eligibility for the program. Enrollment in school readiness programs is contingent upon eligibility, available funds, and available providers for a specific program. Eligible children that cannot be enrolled immediately are placed on a wait list in UWL.
• A review of a child’s eligibility for school readiness programs is required every six months. Children that continue to meet the eligibility requirements remain on the wait list; those who do not are removed from the wait list.
• Enrollment in early learning programs is done in EFS, which requires the transfer of VPK and wait list data from UWL to EFS.
• A web-based reporting tool is available for coalitions and contractors to run wait list and VPK reports on an as-needed basis.

Click here to enter your information on the Unified Wait List.

Re-certification

All parents enrolled in the School Readiness program must be determined eligible for services at least every six months. Some parents may require more frequent re-certifications depending on eligibility funding category.

Once enrolled in the program, parents are given a re-certification appointment and list of required documents to bring to the appointment. It is imperative that parents keep the re-certification appointment so that their enrollment in the program is not jeopardized.

Provider Transfers

Parents wishing to transfer child care programs must submit a completed signed fee release statement  (pdf 21.44 kB) from their current provider and bring it to one of the ELC Family Service Centers.