Senate unanimously approves expansion of preschool eligibility for certain five-year-olds

The Senate on May 2 unanimously approved House File 2493, a bill expanding eligibility for the statewide preschool program to include five-year-old children who reach age five on or after March 15 but on or before September 15, sponsor Senator Kreienbrink said.

"The bill expands the eligibility for the statewide preschool program by including 5 year old children who reach age 5 on or after March 15 but on or before September 15," said Senator Kreienbrink, who explained the policy aims to help children born prematurely who may not be developmentally ready for four-year-old preschool. He added that a child previously counted for state funding should not be counted again for the current year.

The Secretary opened the voting system and the roll call recorded named senators voting aye. The chair announced the final tally as 46 ayes and 0 nays; the bill received a constitutional majority and was declared to have passed. The Senate ordered the bill immediately messaged after unanimous-consent requests on the floor.

Senator Kreienbrink framed the bill as a modest change to eligibility rules intended to better align enrollment with developmental readiness for some children and to avoid duplicate state funding counts.