Adhering to a new policy adopted in January by the Maryland State Board of Education and the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future’s Accountability and Implementation Board, Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) will focus its prekindergarten offerings solely on 4-year-old students in the upcoming school year.
The Blueprint charges the Maryland State Department of Education with using a mix of public and private providers to deliver prekindergarten programs. For the last three school years, AACPS has offered several prekindergarten programs across the county for 3-year-old students in addition to 4-year-old students.
Programs for 3-year-old students will be offered by private schools and providers, community-based childcare centers, Head Start programs, and family childcare homes beginning next fall. AACPS will focus on expanding its programming for 4-year-old students and providing instruction for all eligible 4-year-old Tier I students in school settings close to their homes. Available spaces after all Tier I students have been assigned seats can be provided to 4-year-old Tier II students.
Prekindergarten students in Tier I include those whose families meet certain poverty guidelines and students experiencing homelessness as well as some multilingual learners and students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Tier II students include those whose families meet a higher income threshold as well as some multilingual learners and students with IEPs, with all other students being placed in Tier III.
“This change will allow us to better focus instruction and services to students who need it most and to do so at schools that are closer to the homes of those students,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell said. “We must, by law, accommodate all 4-year-old Tier I students but some of those students have had to travel great distances in prior years and we are hoping to minimize if not eliminate that in the next school year.”
Prekindergarten programs delivered by AACPS will continue to be offered free of charge in the 2025-2026 school year, Dr. Bedell said. Positions allocated to 3-year-old programs in the current school year will be converted to 4-year-old programs in the 2025-2026 school year.
Registration for 2025-2026 prekindergarten programs begins on May 6, 2025.