Giving Compass' Take:

· The author explains that Rahm Emanuel's expansion of public preschool has sparked concern in community-based pre-kindergarten centers due to rising vacancies.

· What negative impacts will Emanuel's rollout of universal pre-K have on preschool options? What does this mean for the community? 

· Read more about Chicago's universal pre-K program.

El Valor runs the second-largest network of early childhood education centers in Chicago, after the public school system itself. Until this fall, several of its centers on the city’s South and Southwest sides had long waitlists.

Then Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that Chicago would embrace universal education for 4-year-olds. As schools opened classrooms across the city and families followed, El Valor suddenly had to scramble to fill its 1,000-plus spots. Its employees staged community baby showers, taped fliers to pizza boxes, worked block parties, and fanned out door to door.

“It felt like ‘Do or die,” said Rey Gonzalez, El Valor’s CEO. “We had to meet full enrollment by Oct. 1.”

But even if El Valor does recruit more families, the successful community-based program and others like it could still face radical change.

Read the full article about Rahm Emanuel's rollout of universal pre-K by Cassie Walker Burke at Chalkbeat.