Rio Rancho elementary launches free full-day preschool, seats still open

Families in Rio Rancho still have a chance to claim one of Puesta del Sol Elementary School’s remaining preschool seats before classes begin Aug. 10, a rare free full-day option that could ease childcare costs for working parents and help more 4-year-olds enter kindergarten ready to learn.

The first lottery round closed May 31, but Rio Rancho Public Schools said applications remain open until the 142-seat program fills up. By June 5, 100 slots had already been taken, leaving room for more children who will be 4 years old by Sept. 1. Families who apply after the lottery window will be placed on a waitlist if openings come up later in the year.

The preschool will run from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday inside a remodeled wing at Puesta del Sol, 450 Southern Blvd. SE in Rio Rancho. The district has framed the program as a major expansion of early-childhood access on the city’s south side, where families have been asking for more full-day options close to home.

That demand helped shape the plan. Earlier this year, district officials said Puesta del Sol would be Rio Rancho Public Schools’ first full-day instructional offering for 4-year-olds, supported by New Mexico PreK grant funding. The program was designed around a play-based curriculum that includes literacy, mathematics, creativity and physical education, along with outdoor learning and family-style meals. District leaders also said the staffing plan called for at least nine licensed pre-K teachers, as many as 18 educational assistants and an instructional coach.

Instead of building a new campus, the district is converting the school’s existing Freedom wing, which has nine classrooms and office space, into a preschool area with child-sized features such as changing tables, low cabinetry and smaller group spaces. That approach lets RRPS add seats faster while keeping Shining Stars Preschool in place as part of the district’s broader preschool system.

New Mexico PreK is a free, voluntary school-year program for 3- and 4-year-old children, and RRPS has said the Puesta del Sol site is meant to widen access rather than simply shift programs around. The district’s 2026-27 calendar lists Puesta del Sol Pre-K beginning Aug. 10 and ending May 28, a schedule that puts the preschool on its own calendar even as elementary and secondary students start Aug. 6. For families balancing work shifts, daycare bills and school readiness, those open seats now represent one of the few tuition-free full-day options available in Rio Rancho.