{"id":369803,"date":"2026-08-12T23:04:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T23:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369803\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T23:04:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T23:04:18","slug":"program-helps-hillsborough-parents-cover-cost-of-pre-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369803\/","title":{"rendered":"Program Helps Hillsborough Parents Cover Cost of Pre-K"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County<\/a> is highlighting a program that helps parents partially cover the cost of pre-kindergarten programs.<\/p>\n

The funding comes from a mix of federal, state and private donations.<\/p>\n

The coalition recently announced a partnership with the Baker and Emily Mayfield Foundation to help provide some of that private funding.<\/p>\n

Four-year-old Wyatt Barr is beginning his educational journey at Palma Ceia Day School in Tampa, where he is enrolled in a Pre-Kindergarten program.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is such a sweet, sweet, loving boy,\u201d said Charlotte Barr, Wyatt\u2019s mother. \u201cHe can be wild like his brothers. He loves to jump and climb, but he also loves to read.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barr said she enrolled Wyatt in the program to help him flourish.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey learn so many things here,\u201d she said. \u201cI am blown away. He comes home every day talking about all these things he has learned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pre-K programs can be expensive, but there are ways for families to receive assistance, including the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County, which helps parents with the cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that affordability is a current concern for child care,\u201d said Dr. Fred Hicks, chief executive officer of the coalition.<\/p>\n

Parents can apply for a voucher through the coalition to help pay for up to three hours of schooling per day for a child. Some parents may qualify for additional funding.<\/p>\n

The vouchers are funded through federal and state programs, as well as private donations. One major contributor is the Baker and Emily Mayfield Foundation.<\/p>\n

For the foundation and the coalition, the partnership is focused on early education.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re laser focused on one of America\u2019s weaknesses, and that is literacy. It starts with VPK and parents working with their child up to the age of five years old,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n

The cost of pre-K education continues to climb.<\/p>\n

The Department of Labor\u2019s national database of child care prices shows the average cost of preschool for a child was $9,100 in 2022. By 2024, it had risen to a little more than $10,000.<\/p>\n

Barr, a mother of four, said programs like this have helped her children get a head start on reading and socializing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this type of program should be available to all students because I saw what it did for my son when he went into kindergarten and had such a strong background, not just academically but socially, and being able to handle himself in situations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She hopes all parents take advantage of the opportunity to start their children\u2019s education early.<\/p>\n

The Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County is set to be a beneficiary of the Baker and Emily Mayfield Foundation\u2019s 2026 \u201cBe the Ball\u201d charitable event.<\/p>\n

The event will take place on Aug. 30 at Topgolf Tampa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County is highlighting a program that helps parents partially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[274,770,113,276,4029,115,135,137,136,278,835],"class_list":["post-369803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-top-stories","tag-community-news","tag-education","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-jeff-van-sant","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}