Families will start paying tuition for Truman preschool’s full-day program in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — While full-day preschool still will be offered at Truman Early Learning Center in northwest Cedar Rapids, families now will have to pay a fee this fall in a significant change to the program.

In Iowa, families can access free, half-day preschool for their 4-year-olds. But the half-day programs can be a barrier for working families who are unable to find child care beforehand or afterward, or provide transportation for their kids.

Seeking to better prepare kids for lifelong learning, the Cedar Rapids Community School District opened Truman, 441 West Post Rd. NW, in 2022 as a full-day, free preschool program. It initially was funded with federal pandemic relief dollars — the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief — over two years. The district has been saving state funds to continue the full-day programming for the 2024-25 school year after the federal money ran out.

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For years, district leaders have advocated that the state fully fund preschool for 4-year-olds, saying without it that the future of Truman would be uncertain. But state lawmakers have yet to take up the issue. And without more state funding, the district cannot afford to continue operating a free, full-day preschool program.

Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, families will have to pay $325 a month to attend Truman’s full-day preschool to keep the program sustainable. The district will continue to offer free half-day options at Truman and at other elementary schools.

“Early childhood education has been a high priority in our legislative advocacy, but state funding remains uncertain for the 2025-2026 school year,” Cedar Rapids school board President Cindy Garlock said in a statement. “We took a proactive approach to maintain access to our preschool program. These changes help ensure the support, care and education our youngest learners need to thrive. We still need additional funding to guarantee the program’s long-term sustainability.”

Monica Frey, principal of Truman, said she hopes the district will be able to offer free, full day preschool to 4-year-olds again someday. “It depends on what the Legislature does with their funding,” she said.

“It’s my passion to ensure that students get an opportunity to have quality preschool and be ready and set for kindergarten experiences,” Frey said. “It’s the foundation where we can start kids off on the right foot, get families into our system and hopefully, want to stay with us through elementary, middle and high school.”

This school year, there are about 320 students enrolled at Truman across 16 classrooms of free, full-day 4-year-old preschool.

This fall, the school will offer four to six sections of full-day tuition-based preschool and four to six sections of free half-day morning or afternoon preschool for a total of 10 classrooms. Frey said some staff at Truman will move to other half-day preschool programs in the Cedar Rapids district.

Preschool is open to children who will be 4 on or before Sept. 15 of each year.

In addition to Truman, half-day preschool will continue to be offered at several elementary schools. The newest school to offer morning and afternoon half-day preschool this fall will be Johnson STEAM Academy, where enrollment is almost full. These are the schools in the Cedar Rapids district with on-site preschool:

The district also has a new partnership with Head Start that will offer before- and after-school child care at several locations, for a fee. Champions will continue to provide child care at some Cedar Rapids schools.

The Cedar Rapids district is planning to continue expanding its preschool offerings, Frey said. Each newly built elementary school will include room for preschool classes.

For more information on the new preschool model and registration details, visit crschools.us/schools/preschool-alternative-kindergarten/preschool.

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