Pima County weighs options for 630-child preschool waitlist
Pima County supervisors will discuss a 630-child PEEP waitlist July 28, with scholarships, classrooms and other funding options under consideration.
Pima County supervisors are scheduled to discuss options for addressing a 630-child waitlist for the county’s Pima Early Education Program during their 5 p.m. meeting Tuesday, July 28, 2026.
The discussion comes as working families face a broader shortage of affordable child-care assistance and preschool capacity. A July 22 county administrator memorandum says more than 2,300 children in Pima County were also on the Arizona Department of Economic Security’s child-care assistance waitlist as of June.
The Board of Supervisors meeting is intended to provide direction on possible responses. The memorandum does not represent final approval of new funding, classrooms, scholarships or municipal partnerships.
How the PEEP waitlist breaks down
The 630 children on the Pima Early Education Program waitlist were counted at the end of May. The county memorandum divides them into three groups:
- 248 children waiting for school-district preschool seats
- 148 children waiting for extended-day Head Start slots
- 234 children waiting for Pima Early Education Program Quality First scholarships
The figure is specific to PEEP and does not represent every child in Pima County who needs preschool or child care. The separate DES figure covers children waiting for child-care assistance and should not be combined with the PEEP total.
Possible funding and classroom options
County staff outlined several possible near-term strategies for supervisors to consider. An additional annual scholarship is estimated to cost about $12,600 per child. Creating a new school-year classroom would cost approximately $155,545 to $172,828, depending on class size and age range.
The memorandum says additional scholarship or classroom funding would come from the county’s General Fund contingency if supervisors pursue those options. Supervisors may also consider municipal partnerships and other ways to expand available space, staffing or program capacity.
Longer-term ideas include philanthropic support and workforce-development strategies. Those approaches would take more time and would not necessarily provide immediate seats for children currently waiting.
Why capacity remains limited
The county identifies several contributing factors, including limited scholarship and classroom capacity, staffing shortages, reduced child-care subsidies and the expiration of federal pandemic relief funding.
Those pressures affect more than families seeking care. Limited access can make it harder for parents to work or increase their hours, while providers and school districts must manage staffing and classroom constraints. Employers may also feel the effects when workers cannot find reliable care. These are practical implications identified in the county’s discussion of the issue, not a separate quantified economic impact estimate.
The county memorandum notes that a sliding-scale fee beginning August 1, 2026, is projected to support two additional classes in a later fiscal year. Those classrooms are not an immediate solution to the current waitlist.
Arizona Public Media reported June 5 that the statewide child-care assistance waitlist was approaching 12,800 children. That figure provides dated statewide context but should not be treated as a current July total or as a substitute for the county’s separate Pima County count.
What to watch after July 28
The key question for families and providers is whether supervisors authorize new use of contingency funds or direct county staff to develop a specific expansion plan. The board could also seek additional work on school-district classrooms, scholarships, municipal cooperation or longer-term funding sources.
Until the board takes formal action, families should treat the listed strategies as options under consideration rather than guaranteed program changes. The July 28 discussion is an important decision point, but it is not proof that the county has approved an expansion.
Sources
- Pima County administrator memorandum on PEEP waitlists, July 22, 2026
- Arizona Department of Economic Security child-care assistance information
- Arizona Public Media statewide child-care report, June 5, 2026
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