PLANT CITY, Fla. — For the first time, Hillsborough County Schools is offering full-day voluntary prekindergarten at no cost to families, using funding from the tax referendum approved by voters in 2024.
District leaders said that the expanded school day gives some of Hillsborough County’s youngest students more time to develop academic and school-readiness skills before entering kindergarten.
At Cork Elementary School, VPK teacher Brianne Cloutier said the additional classroom time is making a noticeable difference.
Cloutier has taught VPK for more than 20 years and has watched generations of students move on to kindergarten and beyond.
“We teach them all of their letters, their sounds, how to count, number recognition, how to quantize, so if I hold up number two, they’re able to count two, their shapes, patterns,” Cloutier said. “We have a whole list of Florida state standards that we teach to.”
Previously, teachers had about three hours each day to fit in that instruction. This school year, Hillsborough County’s full-day program gives teachers additional time to work on those skills.
“Our pre-K day is a very full day, very busy, and when we just had the three hours a day, we were cramming all the content into a small amount of time,” Cloutier said. “So now that we have the extended day, it is just a breath of fresh air.”
In a statement, Superintendent Van Ayres said early education plays an important role in students’ long-term academic success.
“Research is clear: the earliest years of a child’s education shape everything that follows,” Ayres said. “Our Voluntary Prekindergarten program gives our youngest learners the foundation they need in literacy — the building block for a successful academic journey.”
The state currently provides funding for half-day VPK programs. In Hillsborough County, funding from the voter-approved tax referendum is being used to cover the second half of the school day.
Cloutier said the goal is to use that additional time to send students into kindergarten with an even stronger foundation and better prepared for what comes next.