After months of public anguish over their future, almost 3,000 4-year-olds and their teachers today settle into a year of singing, counting and reading.

When then-Superintendent Peter Gorman said in January he planned to scale back Bright Beginnings to cope with budget cuts, hundreds mobilized to save the free prekindergarten for children who lack skills for school. Questions lingered into summer, as the budget picture brightened and Gorman announced his resignation.

Now that the dust has settled, here's the scene: 48 schools around Mecklenburg County host Bright Beginnings classes, compared with 13 schools and five centers last year.

Closing those centers, which had their own administrators and support staff, pared just over $1 million from the budget. And enrollment is down slightly, from 3,142 to 2,967, but it's not because of money.

CMS still has 175 pre-K teachers, like last year. But based on advice from state officials, the maximum class size was reduced from 19 to 18, said CMS pre-K director Julie Babb. Some classes are smaller, based on children's special needs.

Demand is high: About 1,300 children are on the waiting list.

Bigger kids started school Aug. 25. But the pre-K crew started easing in, a few at a time, last week. Today is when all the 4-year-olds take their places on colorful carpets and tiny chairs.

Jamie Franklin, a teacher who moved from the now-closed Starmount Center to Ashley Park PreK-8 School, spent the final days of August visiting children in their homes, like all other Bright Beginnings teachers.

On Friday, when one of the newcomers looked nervous, she reminded him, "We're friends; I met you already."

Home visits are designed to put the children at ease, help teachers get to know them and encourage parents to help their kids learn, says Babb. Some teachers take photos of the children at home and use them to decorate their classrooms: "It's a way to connect home and school."

Scattering the classes means dozens of teachers and principals must master new routines.

"I've got to learn the Ashley Park way of doing things," Franklin said, as nine children explored books, magnifying glasses, tape measures and dress-up clothes. She gently coached them in their new routines, from sitting on their bottoms during story time to picking up toys when she plays the "Clean-Up Time" song.

Babb hopes dispersing the classes also helps neighborhoods feel ownership and eliminates another transition for kids. Many of the 4-year-olds are now in the schools they'll attend when they move up.

Officials decided in June to close the five pre-K centers, which served about 1,650 children. CMS moved those classes into schools that had rooms available and are located in areas that traditionally enroll large numbers of Bright Beginnings students.

Early in the budget process, Gorman had talked about eliminating county spending on Bright Beginnings and limiting the classes to the highest-poverty schools, which get federal Title I aid. But with an increase in county money, lower-poverty schools are taking the 4-year-olds as well, in schools ranging from McAlpine Elementary in the south to Blythe Elementary in the north.

The new locations also mean more 4-year-olds will share buses with older children - as old as 13 or 14 in the case of the new pre-K-8 schools. Babb said bus drivers have been trained to create a seating chart and keep the youngest children up front. Parents must be at the bus stops when their 4-year-olds get on and off the bus, she said.