Getting a child into a free or low-cost preschool seat in Pima County is becoming harder, even as more families need help.
Pima Early Education Program Scholarships, or PEEPs, saw a drop in the number of children it served in its fourth year, along with a decline in participating preschool providers, as funding tightened, according to the program’s 2025 annual report.
PEEPs is a scholarship program for preschoolers used at over 100 sites across the county, including many school districts.
As of the end of May, 630 children were on PEEPs waitlists, according to a memo from County Administrator Jan Lesher.
The number includes families looking for:
- a free school district preschool classroom,
- an extended-day Head Start slot — a full-workday version of the free federal preschool program
- and a Quality First scholarship, which helps cover tuition at a private preschool rated highly for quality.
At Tucson Unified School District alone, PEEPs classrooms had a 121-child waitlist last year and expect another this year while still working to fill 180 available seats, a report shows. TUSD’s community preschools include students from ages 3-5 and cost about $140 a week for half-day, $180 for full day and extended day is about $235 a week.
Countywide, PEEPs and its partner programs are reaching only 41% of income-eligible children who need subsidized preschool — about 5,314 of an estimated 13,023 who qualify. According to program data, most of the children PEEPs serves belong to a racial or ethnic minority group and 31% are dual-language learners.
The market rate for a year of preschool is $10,764, according to the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
Why the money is drying up
Pima County launched PEEPs as a bold local bet on early childhood education. But it was built on temporary money. The Board of Supervisors created the program in 2021 with $30.2 million in federal pandemic relief funds, allocated to last four years.
Now that money is gone and the county has to find a new way to pay for PEEPs, using library tax funds this year — but that transition is happening at the same time as potential revenue streams are drying up.
Resources
Families with a 3 to 5 year old who may qualify can call Child Care Resource & Referral at 1-800-308-9000 to ask about a PEEPs scholarship.
Find preschool options and resources for parents at MySchoolsTucson.com.
Quality First, the state program that funds preschool-tuition scholarships, has cut its funding by roughly 70%, according to the TUSD report. There are fewer First Things First scholarships (funded by taxes from cigarette sales) and PEEPs-funded Quality First scholarships dropped by 107, Supervisor Matt Heinz told the board. TUSD’s Quality First scholarships fell from 52 to 16, said Reem Kievit, TUSD’s senior director of community schools and preschool programs.
Last spring, the TUSD board voted to use some of the voter-approved $45 million in override money to fund preschool for up to 90 students. It approved $600,000 for 50-90 preschoolers to use for up to five years.
“The board-approved override scholarships have become an incredibly important resource for helping families access these services at our early learning centers and tuition pre-K programs,” Kievit told the board July 28. “The override funds have been divided into thirds to support all of our tuition programs. Scholarships are an extremely cost-effective way to increase access. We are filling the existing license seats, not building new classrooms. That means every scholarship dollar goes directly towards serving children instead of infrastructure.”
During her financial update on the state of TUSD preschool, Kievit said the district is evaluating several restructuring options including a gradual tuition increase and examining enrollment and staffing.
“We remain committed to finding solutions before asking for additional financial support,” Kievit said. “Our goal is not simply balancing their year or next year’s budget. Our responsibility is ensuring that these programs remain available for families five or 10 years from now.”
Separately, DES — which helps parents pay for child care by reimbursing providers directly — has kept its own statewide waitlist since August 2024, after demand outgrew its budget. More than 2,300 children in Pima County are on the DES waitlist, according to Lesher’s memo.
The city of Tucson has stopped contributing to PEEPs. The city, which had put a total of about $3.82 million into the program since 2021, dropped the funding from its budget amid a budget crunch. Oro Valley has backed out, too. The county memo lists Marana as the only municipality still contributing financially.
That leaves Pima County covering costs the state and cities used to help share.
A new cost for some families
For some families, the practical change arrives Aug. 1. PEEPs school district classrooms will start charging a sliding-scale fee to families earning between 201% and 300% of the federal poverty level — roughly $42,500 to $63,450 a year for a family of two, per the program’s 2025 income guidelines — a group that previously paid nothing. Families below that income range will still attend for free.
The county projects the fee will eventually pay for two more classrooms and 36 more seats, but not until Fiscal Year 2029, since officials plan to spend two years banking the revenue.
What the county is doing about it
County supervisors discussed the waitlist at their July 28 meeting but took no vote and approved no new funding.
Supervisor Andrés Cano proposed cutting the waitlist in half within two years and offered to support a county match of up to $1 million if outside funding could be raised, but the idea wasn’t brought as a formal motion.
Supervisor Matt Heinz calculated that a one-time $1.59 million allocation could cover 126 additional scholarships — a fraction of the waitlist — but Supervisor Rex Scott cautioned that a one-time infusion would just delay the same conversation.
The board directed county leaders to develop a longer-term, multi-year funding plan. Some efforts are already underway, though none carry new funding yet: the county plans to convene a regional early-education roundtable with cities, towns and school districts, and to launch a PEEPs Workforce and Business Leadership Council with a group called The Preschool Promise, aimed at building business and philanthropic support.
Staff are also exploring a county-affiliated nonprofit to funnel private donations to PEEPs and other programs.
Cano worried aloud that the board’s discussion “didn’t provide enough direction” for staff to act on.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print.
