Multnomah County’s Preschool For All program is expanding to serve 1,575 more children in the 2025-26 school year.
The program aims to continue expansion with the goal of providing all children age three to four with free preschool by 2030 through a tax on high income earners. It was created through a ballot initiative that 64% of voters approved in 2020.
The program launched in 2022 with 500 seats and expanded to 728 by the end of the school year. In the 2023-24 school year it reached just under 1,400 seats, and in the current school year it has 2,225 seats.
During the 2025-26 school year it will reach 3,800.
“This is a remarkable milestone and it means that we will have quadruple the number of children served since the program’s inception in 2022,” said the program’s director, Leslee Barnes.