2025-2026 VPK Choice is January 6-31, 2025.
Children who turn four (4) years old by September 1st, 2025 and have a valid VPK Certificate of Eligibility are eligible to participate in the School District of Manatee County's VPK Program. VPK is 540 hours of free education (8:30 AM-11:30 AM daily) throughout the school year. During a specific period each year, families have an opportunity to select the VPK school site that will best meet their student's needs. 

Gather Documents.
Gather and scan the documents on the VPK Registration Checklist. If your application is approved, these documents MUST be submitted prior to the student attending the VPK program.

STEP 1: Obtain a VPK Certificate of Eligibility.
To participate in VPK, you must have a VPK Certificate of Eligibility issued by the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County for the upcoming school year. To obtain a certificate, please visit https://familyservices.floridaearlylearning.com or call (941) 757-2900. The ENROLLING parent must download, sign and date the VPK Certificate of Eligibility and must upload it in Step 2 below. Students who are 5 years old before September 1 of the academic year are not eligible for the VPK program offered by the School District of Manatee County.

STEP 2: Create a FOCUS Account.
Please do NOT create a new FOCUS account before January 6, 2025.

Starting January 6th, if the student has NEVER been enrolled in the School District of Mantee County, the parent/guardian must create a FOCUS Parent Portal Account and complete the Online Application under FORMS to register the student. The registration must be submitted on the final page of the Online Application. After this step is complete, you will receive an email confirming a successful registration. If you do not receive a confirmation email, log back into your FOCUS Parent Portal Account and continue the online application.

In order to be eligible for a seat, the signed VPK Certificate of Eligibility must be uploaded to the student's FOCUS account.

Registration in the district's student information system can be done at https://www.manateeschools.net/focus. The student must be added to FOCUS and linked/enabled to the ENROLLING parent's FOCUS account before the VPK Choice Application can be accessed during the enrollment window (Step 3).

STEP 3: Submit VPK Choice Application via FOCUS.
VPK Choice Application will not be available in FOCUS until January 6th-31st, 2025.

Make sure you select "VPK Choice Application 2025-2026". Other Choice Applications are for K-12 and will NOT be included in the VPK Choice Lottery.
VPK Choice applications must be completed by the ENROLLING parent/guardian via their FOCUS parent account by selecting their VPK child and clicking on the "VPK Choice Application 2025-2026" link. After completion of the VPK Choice Application, you will receive a confirmation email. If you do not receive a confirmation email for the VPK Choice Application, log back into your FOCUS parent account and complete and submit the VPK Choice Application.

Completing a VPK Choice Application DOES NOT guarantee placement.
Placement decisions will be based on capacity, school zone and considerations listed in the application. VPK school sites are subject to change based on specific school enrollment and unit allocations.

Applicants should receive an email with the results by Friday, February 14th, 2025. 
Applicants that are not accepted due to space limitations may call to be placed on a waitlist. The VPK waitlist for all school sites will open Monday, March 3rd, 2025 at 8:00 AM. If your email changes, or you do not receive your application results, please call 941-753-0958 x38200.