‘Just so thankful': Lake County expands free, full-day pre-K program

Lake County parents will have a new and unusual option for their preschoolers in August - a public school devoted solely to educating three- and four-year-olds.

The Rimes Early Learning and Literacy Center in Leesburg currently serves students in pre-kindergarten through second grade. When the 2026-27 school year starts, it will educate only preschoolers, offering for free an option many parents pay for privately.

The move is designed to expand academic offerings for the county’s youngest students and to help fill a campus that, in its current configuration, has struggled to attract enough students.

Amy Schillinger, whose 5-year-old son is a Rimes kindergartner, said parents who give the school a chance will not be disappointed.

"I had deep concerns about going into public school, but Rimes has completely changed my viewpoint," she said.

The school's small size and dedicated staff work hard to help students thrive. "I feel like, if he had gone to a bigger school to start that maybe he would have gotten lost," Schillinger said. "Maybe they wouldn't have given him the personal touch that he's gotten at Rimes."

Turning Rimes into a pre-K school fits with Lake County Schools' efforts to boost young students' academic foundation before kindergarten, said Superintendent Diane Kornegay.

"It's been a priority for us to make sure that we increase access to early learning. Because we know that access to early learning programs is critical to preventing achievement gaps," Kornegay said.

"Rimes has always been well known for its impact on improving student learning at those early years," she said. "And so you already have the facility, and you already have the staffing in place to support more students."

For years, though, Rimes has struggled to lure in enough students. Officials have blamed its lack of a dedicated attendance zone, meaning parents must provide transportation; its more recent, though misplaced, reputation as a campus only for youngsters with disabilities; and upgrades at other, nearby schools that have made fewer consider Rimes.

Enrollment, which peaked at about 300, has fallen to 235.

School officials hope that focusing on preschoolers will help them combat those issues. When the new school year starts, the school will be open to three-year-olds with disabilities and to all four-year-olds.

Parents of preschools typically drive their children to school anyway, so officials think a lack of bus service might be less of a deterrent for them.

And Rimes offers the state's free voluntary pre-K program, or VPK, plus three extra hours, and all of it is free.

The state pays for three hours a day of pre-K, so parents who choose private preschools - most have contracts to offer the state program - must cover the cost of any additional time their children spend in class, which often amounts to $200 or more a week.

Also, unlike their counterparts at many private daycare centers, Rimes teachers have college degrees and state certification. And the Rimes campus, like other public schools, offers physical education, music and a library with a multimedia center.

"It's a tremendous difference if you look at the quality of instruction that is being given," said Principal Dominique Ward. "It's big enough to have a variety of types of VPK classrooms, but small enough to feel like a nice private school, and it's free."

She knows some parents view Rimes as a place only for children with disabilities, in part because that population has seemed larger as traditional enrollment dropped. It’s not, but a campus that serves those youngsters has advantages for other young students because the teachers are trained to detect possible developmental delays and get children evaluated, if needed, she said.

“Some families just need a little extra support,” Ward said. “And I think, when they start off in a small place like this, they get that kind of support.”

The 2026 plan for Rimes is not new. The Lake County School Board voted to close what was once Rimes Elementary School in 2002. The campus re-opened as a pre-K school in 2004, but then the district decided to add some higher grades, making it an early learning center that served children through second grade.

Recent renovation projects at nearby Fruitland Park Elementary and Beverly Shores Elementary have made those campuses more appealing to families, Kornegay said, and drawn potential students away from Rimes.

But those other schools have limited space for pre-K students, meaning many parents look to private centers. Rimes hopes to catch their attention with its offer of a six-hour, no-cost school day.

For the coming year, Rimes has 26 VPK students enrolled so far and space for nearly 40 more, with an ability to expand beyond that if demand increases. The school also has 90 preschoolers with disabilities enrolled.

Seminole County Public Schools also runs a preschool-only campus, so Rimes will be the second in Central Florida. The SCPS Early Learning Center in Sanford opened in 2013 and serves 100 children.

Savannah Faile enrolled her son in Rimes in 2025 after being quoted $250 a week for VPK at a private preschool and being told by his daycare provider that he didn’t do well in large groups.

At Rimes, her son was evaluated for speech and other delays and then placed in a class that serves youngsters with and without disabilities, where he gets the support he needs.

Faile said Rimes’ small size and its teachers expertise make it a good fit.

"They see him as a whole child, not just academic," Faile said. "So they always kind of understand what's going on with him, emotionally, mentally, physically, like they cover all of those things."

Abigail Stivender's daughter was diagnosed with a learning disability when she was 3. Stivender agonized over which preschool would best help her before enrolling the little girl Rimes in 2023.

On the third day of school, Stivender returned to campus midday to drop something off for her daughter and caught the child walking to recess. What she saw set her mind at ease.

"I saw four different adults saying, ‘Hi, Charlotte. So nice to see you'. Or, ‘Hi, Charlotte. How are you?' In just a few days they all knew her name and were reaching out to her and letting her know that she was seen and special and it was safe there," Stivender said. "And that made my heart burst with joy. I was just so thankful."

Now her only regret is that she must find a new school for Charlotte, who is entering second grade next year.

“We thought we had one more year, and I was really counting on it, so I’m really sad.”

Lake families looking to enroll their children in VPK at Rimes can visit the school's website.

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This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 7:21 AM.