FirstUp tells Chester County leaders 60% of eligible pre‑K children lack access; staffing and low wages cited

During the public‑comment portion of the Sept. 9 meeting, Elizabeth Ozer of FirstUp described gaps in early‑childhood programming in Chester County and urged attention to staffing and access.

Ozer said Chester County has roughly 12,000 three‑ and four‑year‑old children and that about one‑third of them are eligible for high‑quality publicly funded pre‑K programs such as Pre‑K Counts or Head Start; she added that about 2,000 eligible children currently lack access, a figure she characterized as approximately 60 percent unserved in that cohort. "Chester County has 12,000 children aged 3 and 4... about 2,000 of these children are without access," Ozer said.

She told commissioners that low wages in early education are a primary staffing challenge and asked the county to consider supports that would expand capacity so families can work and children can access quality early learning.

The board invited Ozer to share materials and follow up with the commission by email; no formal action was taken at the meeting.