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Board approves funding agreements for early education program

 

Pima County, May 8, 2025 – The Pima County Board of Supervisors at its May 6 meeting approved by a 4-1 vote 14 contracts with several community partners to implement the Pima Early Education Program (PEEPs), offering free preschool to eligible families.

 

The contracts are with school districts in Tucson, Marana, Oro Valley, Flowing Wells and Sahuarita as well as with Child-Parent Centers, the regional Head Start provider and First Things First. The program serves more than 1,400 children annually.

 

The contracts approved by the Board allow the County to continue implementing PEEPs, transition the funding from Federal American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the Library District tax levy and continue allocating city and town funding contributions to the program.

 

When the Board created PEEPs in 2021, supervisors directed staff to budget $10 million a year from the County’s General Fund to run the program. When ARPA funds became available, the County used that funding mechanism instead, knowing that was not a permanent funding stream.

 

A change in the Library District statutes enables the Library to fund early education and literacy programs like PEEPs. That funding source, per a May 5 memo from County Administrator Jan Lesher to the Board, is a sustainable and appropriate source of funding for PEEPs, combined with continued contributions from cities and towns.
 

Source: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/AZPIMA/bulletins/3df8be2

Pima County, Arizona sent this bulletin at 05/08/2025 11:23 AM MST