BILLINGS — In Billings, the closest thing the city has to public preschool is showing early signs of progress.

KinderREADy, a free preschool offered by Billings Public Schools to qualifying students, is in its second year. This year, the district added a teacher, enrolled two dozen more students and started a waiting list.

Veronica Hernandez’s daughter completed KinderREADy in the spring, after first trying an online program for preschool-age children. Hernandez said the switch to in-person schooling was “huge.”

“Her personality opened up. She was talking more. She was more curious about books. She wanted to read,” Hernandez said. “She wanted to tell me about all of the letters she was learning, and every day, it was just something new.”

Hernandez is a paraprofessional in the school di

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