VPK Questions!!!

I went through this last year with my daughter and I too was so confused! First, you need to go to the school that you want your son to go to. The state voucher isn’t good if you don’t have a school to give it to. Most VPK programs start their registration in Jan or Feb (so contact the school asap) and they usually have a wait list (but it depends on the # of VPK eligible schools in your area eg. in my New Tampa area, there are only 4 that participate in the free 15 hrs). Usually you have to pay a deposit to keep your spot (which is refundable once your child begins school – this just ensures that you don’t have your child registered at multiple schools).

Then sometime in March/April, you can go to the Hillsborough registration office (there’s one off Brandon Blvd/Hwy 60) and you get the voucher from them. You need to bring your son’s birth certificate to prove he’s VPK eligible. They don’t care what school you chose (just as long it’s a school that participates in the government program). At this point, you turn in the voucher to the school that your son will go to. That’s all you have to do. The school will contact the necessary people to tell them your child is there (so the government can send the $ to the school).

If you have any more questions or concerns, please feel free to email me. I was so worried and frazzled over this process (considering my daughter was 9th on the wait list at my 1st choice of schools, but I got the last spot at my 2nd choice – and I’m so glad I did because I like the schedule so much better – M/W/F instead of the entire week).

~J.

The best advise I can give is to pick out a few from the list (also on the Hillsborough County School website) and schedule tours. I jotted down some questions to ask each place called each one. I narrowed the places down based on that. Then I went on the tour and got a good feel for the place and teachers.

I had one in mind that sounded great and when I got there, the teachers left something to be desired. One snapped her fingers at a child who was climbing up the stairs (a very young child) and yelled at him to get down. The VPK class lessons were great but the teacher acted as if she could care less about teaching and talked in monotone.

I have twins who are currently enrolled in the Montessori Early Learning Center on Hudson in the Carrollwood area. They are really enjoying it and learning sooo much! It is a learn at your own pace kind of program. My daughter needs pushing but my son loves to learn. They are both adding and subtracting and they have him doing multiplication. They are both reading, too. The teachers are wonderful. They learn Spanish and one of the teachers taught some German and they were learning some sign language. They come home singing songs in other languages! The people who own it are mother/daughter and they are wonderful. I feel like my kids are safe there, too. They have a buzzer at the front so no one can come in without being buzzed. They ask for identification if someone else is picking your child up and they must be on the form you fill out.

You have to go to a Hillsborough County school office and fill out the paperwork. You will need some identification, I forget what, maybe a birth certificate or something like that. It shouldn't be too early to fill out the paperwork.

You will have to register first - which can be done online. http://www.floridajobs.org/earlylearning/VPK%20Program.html

Try this website. Best of luck.

The certificates are not available quite yet but should be very very soon. If you go to the Early Learning Coalition's website at elchc.org, there is information there and it should tell when the 2011-2012 certificates become available and the locations where you can register. Registering online is quite honestly a waste because you will have to fill the exact same form again when you go to the registration location, which is either off of Hwy 60 at Bay Plaza, on Florida near Busch or in Ybor at the ELC.

No it's not too early to sign him up. I would go to the nearest office depending on the county you live in and sign him up there. I've never had any problems with the VPK program they do have requirements like making sure your child attends on a regular basis in which the school keeps tabs on. Good Luck!