Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn has announced that 18,560 students in 928 classrooms across Tennessee will benefit from the Voluntary Pre-K (VPK) program in the 2019-20 school year. 138 districts applied for and received VPK funding through the competitive grant designed to serve 4-year-old students who are at-risk and students in high-priority communities. Sixty-eight of these 138 districts are rural.

Revisions to the Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN ELDS) aligned instructional expectations with Tennessee's K-12 Academic Standards to ensure kindergarten readiness.

Both the Murfreesboro and Rutherford County School Systems offer Pre-K programs. Murfreesboro City Schools have two distinct Pre-K programs. The registration period is now over and ended for the city on May 3, 2019.