Families
School Readiness
The School Readiness program is a state and federally funded child care tuition assistance program that prepares children to become ready for school assists families in becoming financially self-sufficient and provides caregivers with information about child development and other topics of interest.
Need Help Paying for Child Care?
The ELC helps at-risk and low-income working families by providing child care tuition assistance through the School Readiness program.
Law requires the ELC to determine eligibility partly on purpose for care (working, attending school, etc.), household income, and the number of people in the household. We enroll into the School Readiness program when there are available funds. Typically, there is a waitlist to receive services. To apply for this program, access Florida’s Early Learning Family Portal.
For more information, call us at (850) 385-0504. To view a complete list of ELC contracted providers that offer School Readiness, please click here(updated March 2026).
Who is Eligible?
- Parent(s) must be working or participating in an educational activity such as attending college or trade school at least 20 hours per week.
- Gross income must be at or below 55 percent of the state median income (SMI) for family size (please review the Sliding Fee Scale for reference).
- Families must pay a copayment for child care based on income and family size.
- Other children may be eligible if they have special needs or are at-risk of abuse, neglect or abandonment, or if their parents are homeless, victims of domestic violence or are low-income migrant families or farm workers.
School Readiness Waitlist
The Early Learning Coalition of the Big Bend Region, Inc. (ELC) is currently enrolling families into the School Readiness program. Families interested in receiving child care tuition assistance through this program must complete an application in Florida’s Early Learning Family Portal.
If the information you enter appears to meet the program’s requirements, you will be added to the ELC’s waitlist.
Once funds are available, you will receive an email invitation from the Waitlist to verify eligibility. Invited families have 30 days to respond – please refer to this checklist for requested documents so you are ready.
If you have questions about the waitlist, please call us at (850) 385-0504.
Families Currently on the Waitlist
The ELC has a new process for contacting families from the ELC’s waitlist. As funding becomes available, families on the waitlist receive emails. The ELC cannot predict when funding will become available for your family so check your inbox, junk, and spam folders regularly.
If you received an email:
- “Notice of School Readiness Funding” from DONOTREPLY@del.myflorida.com
- “ELC New Enrollment Invitation” from Early Learning Coalition of the Big Bend Region
Download a brief Questions & Answers document about your next steps.
If you have not received either of the two emails, the ELC has not yet invited you to enroll in services. In this case, check your email often. You may also contact the ELC at familyservices@elcbigbend.org or at 1.866.973.9030.
School Readiness Plus Program
The School Readiness (SR) Plus program gives extra support to current SR working families who are no longer eligible for the School Readiness program due to increased income. It helps cover the cost of child care while families adjust to changes in their income.
If your family qualifies for SR Plus, you will pay a little more for child care than you did with the regular School Readiness program. This small increase helps you prepare to take on the full cost of care over time.
SR Plus is designed to help families keep moving forward – so you can accept a raise or promotion without suddenly losing all your child care help.
Please refer to the sliding scale fee below for SR Plus Program eligibility (please note: SR Plus is for families that received SR child care services and recently exited the SR program due to a family income exceeding 85% of the State Median Income).
Sliding Fee Scale (applies to current, active families who recertified prior to 7/1/25)
25-26 Sliding Fee Scale (applies to families with a recertification date from 7/1/25 thru 9/30/25)
