PreK Programs

If the application process is in full swing for your school, it’s helpful to consider the effect a Pre-Kindergarten program could have on it. While most administrators realize the advantage of bringing students to your school earlier than Kindergarten, there are three significant reasons your school should have a Pre-K program:
1) It’s a “money maker” for the school (or, at least, it SHOULD be a money maker for the school);
2) It’s a program where children begin to build friendships and learn to interact with one another – something very important to begin before Kindergarten; and
3) It’s the place where parents will begin to make relationships with other parents and school administration.
It’s one of the best “admissions” tools out there for an elementary school, since a positive experience will make your Kindergarten program a consideration when that time comes.

But will it? Do your parents choose your Pre-K program because it’s competitively priced to other “daycare” options that they have, or do they choose your program because it’s a precursor to the Catholic school education they desire for their children?

If your school has Pre-K programs priced at $750 for 3-year-olds and $1050 for 4-year-olds, parents may not take kindly to full-day kindergarten tuition which is triple or quadruple that amount. Even if the average amount your parents pay per child may be half of what your announced tuition is, delivering that message to parents during their Pre-K 4 year is too late.

Pre-K programs, at least in many Catholic schools, have more enrollment than Kindergarten – for the simple reason that the vast majority of public schools do not have the advantage of Pre-Kindergarten programs. To maximize the effectiveness of the Pre-K presence for your elementary school program, here are three suggestions:

1) Begin to educate parents about Kindergarten as soon as the children are in the 3-year-old program. Consider the fact that applications to Kindergarten will begin about 3 months into their Pre-K 4 year, to wait until a child is in Pre-K 4 to expose the parent to your Kindergarten program is too late. Also consider the high school to college recruitment process. High School Juniors are seeking out their colleges, and take their SATs toward the end of their Junior year. Many of them receive their acceptance letters at the start of their Senior year. This process must be mirrored on the other side of the K-12 experience. Taking this concept a little further, if you want children enrolled in your Catholic or Christian school’s Pre-K 3 program, you must start the education process with the parents – yes – right after their child is baptized as an infant. This process sets the stage for life-long learning, too.

2) While parents have their children enrolled in the Pre-K program, consider them to be a part of your school community, and not just there to experience the Pre-K program! Invite them to PTG/PTA meetings, ask them to chair committees and get them involved in the life of your school. There are some schools that have told me that their Pre-K program is totally independent from their K-8 or K-6 program, and then wonder why many more of the students in Pre-K don’t come to the Kindergarten program, especially if the tuition isn’t that significant of a jump. The reason is that it’s not all about the money; it’s all about the “experience.” If you’re ignoring parents in the Pre-K program, they translate that into how they will feel once they’re enrolled in the elementary school.

3) If parents are making the decision to enroll in your Pre-K 3 program purely because, as some parents have said, “It’s cheap daycare,” then another strategy may be helpful in your planning.

Let’s say your Pre-K program has 72 children – 36 of them are in Pre-K 3 at $1000 and 36 of them are in Pre-K 4 at $2000 as specified above. Perhaps you have two teachers (perhaps you have more?) that share the Pre-K program responsibilities – a Pre-K 3 at two days a week, and a Pre-K 4 at three days a week. Let’s do the math, assuming that each Pre-K teacher makes $40,000 in salary and benefits. 36 x $1000 = $36,000; 36 x $2000 = $72,000, for a total income of $108,000. The teachers create an expense of $80,000, leaving the school with a $28,000 advantage.

However, if you increase your Pre-K 3 tuition to $2000, and your Pre-K 4 tuition to $3000, suddenly 72 children becomes 40, with 20 in each group. This leaves your school with 20 Pre-K 3 students and 20 Pre-K 4 students. If you have only 1 Pre-K teacher, your income goes to $40,000 + $60,000 = $100,000, yet your net advantage increases to $60,000…AND you attain the ability to create a waiting list.

The interesting thing about a waiting list is that it creates demand for your product. If parents can enroll their children “whenever” they want to because they believe that you’ll accommodate their requests or have room for additional children, the call to action is not very compelling. Once a waiting list is created, there is an increased demand for a product or service. It also helps determine which parents are passionate about having their children in your school, distinguishing them from those who are simply evaluating your school as “just another option” in their decision-making process.

The other advantage to this strategy is that a jump to $4000 or more for a full-day Kindergarten program is not out of line with the increased tuition structure, and you may matriculate a higher percentage of your Pre-K students to Kindergarten.

Plus, if you’ve aligned your Pre-K curriculum so that they’re receiving religious instruction, as well as preparing them to be able to enter Kindergarten, how much more of an advantage to the children (and their parents) is your program? That’s value – for a values-based education.

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