UPSTART, a state-sponsored online preschool program, may be receiving $1 million more in funding than it should and serving fewer low-income students than it is required to by law.
A report released Tuesday by the Office of the State Auditor found that the Waterford Institute program, which was originally designed to assist families who are economically at risk, said it taught 12,831 preschool students last year. But by this October, the state could find only 9,804 of those students enrolled in kindergarten.
In “a worst case scenario,” he added, inflated numbers could have resulted in Waterford collecting reimbursements it did not earn.