February 2026 UPK Provider Updates

LCO Denver

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LCO Updates

• As of 2/1/2026 LCOs don’t have access to LCO Specialists anymore
• Provider updates are coming directly from CDEC
• Local Lead Model transition:
• Reduced Technical Assistance
• More “self-serve” options coming in BridgeCare
• Using your tools and resources (handbook, helpdesk)
• Bill SB 26-019 on Senate Floor yesterday with amendments (ECC to absorb LCOs)- will keep you posted!

- CCDF funded services and reimbursements have been extended through May 31, 2026 (CCDF Fact Sheet)

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Reminders

• Children in Selected Status for 25/26:
• For the Direct Enrollment phase, children in Selected Status need to be either Accepted or Declined for the appropriate reason by the provider in their BridgeCare Provider Portal.
• Children in Accepted Status for 25/26:
• Enroll your “Accepted” students in the Provider Portal

All of your UPK students need to be in “Enrolled” status in the provider portal for the 25-26 school year in order to ensure payment.

If a student will not be attending your program, you must enroll to “unenroll” using the same date as start date and end date.

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Reminders

• If a child is absent without any contact from the family for 14 days you must unenroll the child
• Providers who have a vacation/sickness policy allowing for a family to remain enrolled while not attending may maintain UPK enrollment for a family for up to 3 weeks. All enrollments that will miss more than 3 consecutive weeks of services must be approved by CDEC. Please submit a helpdesk ticket to begin the approval process.
• You can only backdate an Enrollment Form 45 days!!

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Program Year 2026/27

26/27 Program Year Updates-Program Setup Form

• The Program Set Up Form for 2026-2027 is still live!
• Link to 2026-27 - Provider Guide - Program Setup Form
• Please review this guide to complete the PSUF for your 2026-27-programs located in your UPK Portal.
• Providers will need to submit a Calendar for the 2026-2027 PY. Please ​reference the Calendar Submission Guidance and ​use the Universal Preschool 26-27 Calendar Submission form to upload your Calendar for the 26/27 PY by August 1st 2026.
• The next program upload will occur on February 26th! If you haven’t submitted your form, please do so by February 25th to give us time to approve and enter the programs to be uploaded.
• CoC phase has ended! CoC criteria will no longer be a consideration!
• First Matching Round will be on 2/16, results communicated on 2/25

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26/27 Program Year Updates-Provider/Family Timelines

• The 2026-2027 Provider Timeline is LIVE!
• Link to 2026-27 Provider Timeline
• You are currently able to adjust seats (increase only) in the UPK portal- contact LCO to reduce seats:

- You can hold seats for current families but you can’t zero out your seats for the matching rounds per the Provider Agreement!!

• The 1st family-to-provider matching round will run on Monday, February 16th 2026- unlike CoC, this is a decline only process (for a valid decline reason)!!
• The 2nd and final family-to-provider matching round will run on March 16th 2026.
• Direct Enrollment for the 26-27 PY will begin on April 1st.
• The 2026-2027 Family Timeline is also LIVE!
• Link to 2026-27 Family Timeline

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Provider Payments and Funding-Provider Payments

• Please review the Four-Year-old Preschool Services Funding and Payments (25-26) Operation Memo for information on funding and payments.
• Providers must be licensed by CDEC to deliver program services to eligible children and must have a signed Universal Preschool provider contract with CDEC.
• Program services are defined as:
• Per Rule and Regulations- Instructional and educational services provided to an eligible child by an eligible preschool provider pursuant to the CO Universal Preschool Program.
• Minimum hours of service required in rule are defined by your submitted UPK calendar.
• Services therefore begin on the first day defined within your UPK Calendar and end on the last day defined in your UPK Calendar.
• Per the Provider Agreement, you can not be paid for services provided before the contract is executed. Executed means that all necessary parties have signed including department representatives.
• Providers must enroll eligible children in their preschool program to qualify as participating providers.
• Providers must complete an enrollment form and have children enrolled via the Application Portal to be eligible for payment.

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Provider Payments and Funding-Payment Reconciliation

• Please see the newly published Payment Reconciliation Memo here.
• Correction Note: The reconciliation payment schedule previously stated that submissions should be for enrollment months listed and now accurately states submissions are for the months payments were received.

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• Depending on the timing of the Provider's entry in the UPK application system, known as the UPK Portal or BridgeCare, CDEC may include payments through a reconciliation payment process or in a monthly payment, whichever is more timely. See below for Reconciliation Payment schedule for 2025-2026, (also included in Operation Memo: OM-UPK-2025-0001

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• Reconciliation Payment Schedule 2025-2026

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*includes final reconciliation if needed.

Provider Payments and Funding-Payment Reconciliation

Key Requirement: 45-Day Limit for Late Enrollment Payment Requests

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Providers may request payment for eligible children who were not timely entered into the UPK’s application system. Such requests are limited to a period of forty-five (45) calendar days preceding the date on which the Provider enters the eligible child into the UPK’s application system.

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Proof of Services Required for Payment Eligibility

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For any payment request related to a child entered late into the system, the Provider shall submit a ticket via the UPK Payments Request form AND provide proof of enrollment documentation via MetrixEnroll that during those 45 days, the eligible child did receive preschool services, despite not being properly enrolled with a ‘start date’ and a fully completed and submitted ‘enrollment form’ in the UPK’s application system.

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Provider Payments and Funding-Payment Reconciliation

Reconciliation Payments or Monthly Payments

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Depending on the timing of the Provider's entry in the UPK’s application system, known as the UPK Portal or BridgeCare, CDEC may include payments through a reconciliation payment process or in a monthly payment, whichever is more timely.

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Reconciliation Payment Schedule 2025-2026:

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*includes final reconciliation if needed.

Quality Standards Implementation

• Quality Standards PD requirements are being added to the Provider Handbook
• Please build your classrooms based on the rating you understand you will have on 7/1
• Extenuating circumstances can be brought to CDEC for review
• Ratings posted on the UPK portal profiles will continue to be pulled from the CO Shines website
• CDEC is working on an easy-to-understand guide for providers and will share it out very soon

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Additional Hours Notification Letter

Additional Hours Award Notification Letters will be going to families via the email used to create their BridgeCare account in the next few days.

All families who checked the box stating they are interested in additional hours will be notified of award or no award!

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New LCO Corner on DPP’s website:

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Provider Resources

Handbooks

• Provider Handbook- Updated 11/13/2025
• UPK Family Handbook-Updated 10/22/2025

Helpdesk

• Colorado Universal Preschool Helpdesk (instead of denverupk@dpp.org)

Provider Questions for Office Hours

• Provider Questions Submission Form

CDEC Resources

• CDEC Website
• Scroll down on the website for the CDEC Website Calendar. Includes links for provider meetings.
• Colorado Universal Preschool Newsletter
• Sign up for updates or to access your subscriber preferences

Provider Payments

• Submit a UPK Payments Request

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