Montessori in the Free Pre-K Era: Partner, Compete, or Pivot?

Publicly funded pre-K is reshaping early childhood education across the United States. For Montessori schools, it can mean new funding and access for families, or it can mean losing four-year-olds, breaking up the three-year cycle and struggling to keep classrooms full. In this session, Tim Seldin, President of the Montessori Foundation, and Sheila Griffin, Founder and Director of Leap International Montessori School in New Mexico, joined Anna Leichter of illumine to compare how different states fund pre-K, what happens when four-year-olds leave and whether Montessori schools should partner, compete or pivot. This is the written recap. The full recording is at the top of this page.

Key takeaways

Where funded pre-K stands

According to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), 44 states and Washington, D.C. funded preschool in the 2024-25 school year. Most use a mixed delivery system, where funding can go to public schools, community programs or both. But every state has built its program differently, so some Montessori schools are already deep in it while others have not felt any impact yet.

Tim pointed to the forces behind the shift: families who find child care unaffordable, political pressure to solve it, a falling birth rate, empty public classrooms and tenured teachers who need jobs. The result is a push to extend public schooling down to three- and four-year-olds. In some states, he said, that means young children in large elementary buildings with bathrooms and spaces not designed for them.

A poll asked where attendees' states stand:

Two states, two outcomes

California: an existential threat

A May 2026 study from UC Berkeley's Equity and Excellence in Early Childhood, reported by KQED, found that for every 200 children who enrolled in public TK, community-based programs lost 38 seats. Around 1,100 preschools closed across California between 2019 and 2025, licensed to serve roughly 32,000 young children.

Tim said kindergarten-age children have almost disappeared from many three-to-six Montessori classes in California, four-year-olds are now going too and some districts are starting to take three-year-olds. In many California districts, he said, up to 33% of private schools have had to close or are scrambling to keep classrooms full. Some are trying to fill seats by extending down to infants, which brings lower ratios, higher costs and more liability. Only the strongest Montessori schools will survive, he said, unless the funding goes to a blend of providers, or ideally to private providers, with families choosing where to spend it.

Families are also under pressure from the other side. An attendee shared that public schools in her area tell parents their child may not get a kindergarten or first grade place unless they join public TK. The answer to that is in the questions below.

New Mexico: a model worth studying

Sheila believes New Mexico should be the model for Montessori schools. What makes it work, she said, is that free pre-K is paired with universal child care, and the state lets schools do what they know is right while giving families real choice. Small, community-based schools like hers, which Tim calls a boutique school, can exist alongside public schools rather than compete with them. In New Mexico, she said, the funding comes from the oil and gas industry.

For her school, the funding has meant:

Sheila said it happened because educators lobbied for it in Santa Fe. "If it can happen in New Mexico, it can happen here, or wherever you are." But it is not a free-for-all. Schools apply for slots, must pay teachers well and provide health insurance, and do some testing she does not love but her children perform well on. Accreditation unlocks the most funding. New Mexico has its own state program, FOCUS, and Sheila said accreditation through national bodies, and now through the American Montessori Society (AMS) or the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), also counts.

There were concessions too. A Montessori mixed-age classroom of three- and four-year-olds is capped at 16 children under the program, below the 24 to 30 of a typical primary class. Sheila accepted it because more children now arrive with additional needs, and a smaller group means no child falls through the cracks. She deliberately applies for fewer slots than she has space for, so she can keep five-year-olds and flexibly admit children whose birthdays fall just outside the cutoff.

Why losing one classroom is never just one classroom

Tim started with the bigger picture. The United States, like much of the world, is in a period of population decline, and it affects public and private schools alike. Every school has to understand the economics of running it and compete in the marketplace of education. Montessori schools face extra pressure: teachers are hard to find, parents have been harder to satisfy since the pandemic, more children have additional needs and more teachers are burned out.

Anna noted that the Free Pre-K Era toolkit includes a worksheet where you can plug in your own numbers to see how state-funded seats would affect your three-year cycle.

When Montessori gets blocked

A second poll asked whether attendees had taken or considered state-funded seats. The largest group, 37%, said it is not an option where they are, and 30% are already taking them. The rest had looked and said no, or are weighing it this year.

Tim said ratio rules are where Montessori most often gets blocked. In Maryland, he could run a class of 30 children aged three to six with one fully certified Montessori teacher and an assistant. In California, a one-to-six ratio changes the program, the budget and what you can afford to pay teachers. In Florida, the Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) program comes with low ratios, class size caps and limited hours, and in Tim's opinion the money is not worth it for a Montessori school. His alma mater, the Barrie School, now caps classes at 24 but designed its rooms for 30, and every lost place is lost income.

"With a little bit of money come big requirements," Tim said. Before accepting any funding, check:

Partner, compete or pivot

Anna framed the decision as three choices: partner with your state's program, compete for families or pivot your approach. With time running short, the discussion focused on partnering, through Sheila's experience in New Mexico.

How Sheila made the case to her state

To join New Mexico's pre-K program, Sheila built a crosswalk. She went through her Montessori albums lesson by lesson and mapped every primary lesson to the state's standards. For a single math standard about numbers, she found a long list of Montessori lessons that covered it. She also gave the state copies of her primary and elementary albums. Even something like formal handwashing mapped to standards on gross motor movement, hygiene and order of operations. That crosswalk, she said, was pivotal to securing the funding, and she offered to help other schools do the same.

Your next 90 days

Money follows excellence.

Whatever kind of school you run, Tim said, know what options are out there, look honestly at what works and what is a challenge in your school, and remember that you can solve any problem you have. "It's just not easy. If it was easy, everyone would do it."

See it in action

Anna showed how illumine helps Montessori schools manage enrollment and funding as pre-K changes:

Tim said that what stands out to him is that schools can run an entire school or network of schools from illumine, including compliance, communication and translation, and that the team is committed to understanding what the Montessori community needs. Learn more about illumine's Montessori software and parent communication, or see how enrollment follow-up automation works.

Questions from the session

Are New Mexico's funded places vouchers?

No. Sheila explained that schools apply for slots. For years, schools over-applied because they expected to get fewer slots than they asked for. Her school received exactly what it asked for.

Can Florida's and Texas's voucher programs be used for Montessori?

Tim said he could not speak to Texas. In Florida, the Step Up program works as a voucher. It covers kindergarten and above, not preschool. Depending on the county, Tim said, it currently brings in between $8,500 and $13,000 a year per child, so for a school whose tuition is around $12,000 or more, it usually covers a big share. He sees it as good public policy because it takes pressure off public schools, and said it comes with relatively few conditions.

Public schools are telling parents their child may not get a kindergarten place unless they join public TK. How should we respond?

Tim said what parents usually hear is not that they will be shut out of public school, but that the district cannot guarantee a place at their preferred school. In some areas, TK does not even run at the local school. Anna suggested addressing it directly with families, so they understand what is a real risk and what is a scare tactic.

Resources mentioned

• The Free Pre-K Era toolkit, with worksheets for modeling the impact on your three-year cycle, plus a professional development certificate and the recording, emailed to attendees.
• The Montessori Foundation's webinars and coaching. Tim recommended its twice-weekly webinars, including a session with the Montessori Public Policy Initiative (MPPI), which is also planning a community-wide webinar on issues specific to Montessori schools.
• Earlier sessions in this series, recapped in Leading a Montessori School in 2026-27 and The October Danger Zone.

The state is trying to raise the floor. They're not trying to undercut schools.

Sheila closed by explaining that in New Mexico, community schools get first choice of slots, and public schools take the places communities still need. For more on keeping your school full, read Tim on birth rates and enrollment challenges, how to predict and prevent enrollment drop-offs or transforming a preschool into a Montessori program. To see how illumine supports Montessori schools, book a live demo.