Parents in Richland County have options when it comes to finding a great public Pre-K program for their four-year-olds.
Public School 4K
Richland County school districts offer a range of child development and pre-kindergarten programs, many of them free for families.
Program availability and registration requirements vary by district. Click the school district names below to learn more about the pre-kindergarten programs they offer.
- Richland School District One
- Richland School District Two
- District 5 of Richland and Lexington Counties
First Steps 4K
There are 31 private child care centers in Richland County that offer free four-year-old kindergarten through a partnership with SC First Steps. To qualify during the 2021-2022 school year, your child must:
- Be 4 years old on or before Sept. 1, 2021
- Be eligible for Medicaid, free- or reduced-price lunch program, SNAP/TANF recipient OR be experiencing homelessness, transiency, or in foster care
- Be a South Carolina Resident
Still not sure if pre-kindergarten is right for your child?
The long-term benefits of high-quality early education were studied in the Perry Preschool Project. The graphic below highlights just a few of the differences they found between people who attended preschool and those who didn’t.
