The awarding of $42 million in federal grants this week will make it possible to renovate and expand preschool facilities in 22 New Jersey school districts, creating 1,493 new seats in district-provided programs.
The grants are part of the second round of Universal Preschool Facilities Expansion Grants funding, which made $120 million made available through an allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund money in the FY23 state budget. The first round of grants announced in November 2023 provided over $74 million in preschool facilities funding.
“High-quality preschool can positively impact the trajectory of a child’s life, which is why we have made it our mission to expand access to these critical programs,” Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday. “These grant awards to support preschool construction and expansion projects represent an investment in our children’s futures and will help bring us closer to our goal of realizing universal preschool in New Jersey.”
Acting Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer said that while Families and educators in many school districts have been eager to establish new, high-quality preschool programs in their community, the biggest obstacle has been the lack of adequate facilities to house those programs.
“This initiative marks a significant step towards universal access to high-quality preschool as it makes funding widely available to help school districts build, expand, or renovate school facilities specifically for preschool students,” Dehmer said.
The facilities funding is one component of New Jersey’s approach to deliver universal preschool by blending district-provided preschool programs with classrooms contracted in licensed childcare providers and Head Start programs, according to the state announcement.
“State and federal government investment in early childhood education system must be done strategically to not only expand access for working families, but also support the full complement of licensed childcare and family providers that offer critical services to families beyond the offerings of the public school system,” said NJBIA Vice President of Government Affairs Althea D. Ford.
The state said it made the latest awards based on four priorities:
- Proposals to increase available preschool seats by at least 10%, ranked by percentage of increased seats.
- Proposals to enhance preschool facilities by increasing the capacity of existing classrooms or by constructing/rehabilitating restrooms.
- Proposals to expand preschool programs from half day to full day.
- Proposals to expand classroom capacity to house new preschool programs and guarantee additional seats.
A complete list of the grant recipients can be found on the state’s website here.
