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Steamboat Springs — Construction of the South Routt Early Learning Center is progressing quickly in Yampa, with the project on target for completion in August - just in time for students beginning the 2008-09 school year.

"The walls are framed and the roof is up," said South Routt School Board President Tim Corrigan, who also serves on the Early Learning Center's board of directors. "It's going better than expected, actually, given the weather."

Blue Water Development and South Routt Engineering broke ground on the $655,000 facility in November, at a site adjacent to South Routt Elementary School in Yampa. When completed, the 2,500-square-foot Early Learning Center will include two classrooms, staff offices, a family room and several covered porches.

Future teachers and staff will take possession of the building in August and begin readying the space for the 2008-09 school year, Corrigan said.

"It means that more children in South Routt will be able to have early education before kindergarten," Early Learning Center board member and Routt County Commissioner Nancy Stahoviak said. "It's the only place children can go for a structured early learning experience."

Planning for the Early Learning Center began more than two years ago in response to a perceived early childhood education need in South Routt, Stahoviak said. Many parents have a difficult time finding early education programs, and many preschools struggle to train, recruit and retain qualified teachers, she said.

The project is the result of a three-way partnership between the South Routt School District, the Early Learning Center and the Colorado Board of Cooperative Educational Services, through which most of the state funding flows, Corrigan said.

The unique relationship combines the independent Early Learning Center with the local public school district. Although the preschool is being built on district land, the Early Learning Center is not a part of the South Routt School District and will be administered independently.

After completion, the Early Learning Center will accommodate as many as 60 children in two half-day programs.

Most families will have to pay tuition to enroll their children at the Early Learning Center, but families with financial need or children designated "at-risk" may qualify to participate in the center's early education programs free of charge, Stahoviak said.

"At-risk" children are those who, for any reason, would likely have trouble in kindergarten and elementary school without attending any preschool program first, she said.

"We're making sure that when a child enters school, they're ready to learn," Stahoviak said.

The tuition-free spots will be made available by funds from the Colorado Department of Education's Colorado Preschool and Kindergarten Program, Stahoviak said.