By Laura Kuang
@laurakuang
The Child Development Center at Las Positas College, funded by the California Department of Education (CDE), Early Education and Support Division (EESD), is now offering a new state half-day preschool program for children who are from income-eligible families.
Las Positas College provides 18 half-day preschool positions for children who meet the criteria at the following table:
| Family Size | Family Monthly Income | Family Yearly Income |
| 1 – 2 | $3,283 | $39,396 |
| 3 | $3,518 | $42,216 |
| 4 | $3,908 | $46,896 |
| 5 | $4,534 | $54,408 |
| 6 | $5,159 | $61,908 |
| 7 | $5,276 | $63,312 |
| 8 | $5,394 | $64,728 |
| 9 | $5,511 | $66,132 |
| 10 | $5,628 | $67,536 |
| 11 | $5,745 | $68,940 |
| 12 | $5,863 | $70,356 |
Income-eligible 3-4 years old Child Protective Services referred children, four-year-old children who are not enrolled in Transitional kindergarten, and three-year-old children from lowest income families will have the first priority to join the program.
“A lot of low-income, working class, or single parent families are in this program. It is a pretty new program but we get much appreciation from most parents,” according to the director of the Child Development Center, Dr. Corinna Calica. “For us, this program is significant. Not only does it utilize our unused classrooms but also gives our students who have young children between 3 to 5 years old a chance for them to go to school.”
Child Development Center is also considering having more state funded programs if there is enough in the budget for more supplies, health care insurance, vision and hearing exams and so forth for children.
In the end, Dr. Calica also states that the LPC half-day preschool program is not just a drop-off center, and instead it’s a school, a social science, an important education for students.
