Connecticut Wins Competitve Federal Grant to Expand High-Quality Preschool

Press Release

Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Connecticut's Congressional delegation today announced that Connecticut has been awarded nearly $12.5 million in discretionary federal funding to expand high-quality preschool. The funding was awarded by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services through a competitive grant process and was announced today by Secretary Burwell of the Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Duncan of the Department of Education.

Connecticut's application aligns with the state's strong existing preschool infrastructure to expand access to high-quality state-funded preschool programs for 428 children and to improve the quality of state-funded preschool programs for another 284 children, for a total of 712 four-year-olds who are at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Line in 14 high-need communities. The 14 communities are Bridgeport, Derby, East Haven, Griswold, Groton, Hamden, Hebron, Killingly, Manchester, Naugatuck, Seymour, Torrington, Vernon, and Wolcott.

The 14 communities participating in the expansion will have high-quality preschool programs which:

offer comprehensive services to children and families;

offer teacher compensation equal to K-12 teachers;

deepen family engagement practices at the local level;

forge a seamless birth-through-third-grade continuum at the local level; and

have an enhanced professional development system offering more targeted and individualized coaching, mentoring and consultation designed to meet the unique needs of programs and teachers within the programs.

"As a mother of three children, I know how important access to quality education is for our children, especially during their early, formative years," said Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty (CT-5). "Under the leadership of Governor Malloy, Connecticut has significantly expanded preschool opportunities for families. I want to thank Secretary Burwell and Secretary Duncan for their meaningful investment in the future of Connecticut children, and I look forward to continuing to work with them to ensure that every family has access to high-quality, affordable early childhood education."

Thirteen out of 27 states that applied for competitive grants to expand high-quality preschool programs were awarded over $170 million in federal funding. In addition to Connecticut, the states that received funding are Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

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