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Keokuk, IA – Governor Chet Culver made increasing accessibility to pre-school for all 4-year-olds a top priority of his administration. State grants have been awarded to 175 school districts in Iowa over the last three years.
The Statewide Voluntary Pre-school Program will continue for a fourth year. Applications are due on Friday, May 14 for the 2010-2011 phase of the program.
Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge says Iowa's $60-million investment in pre-school for four-year-olds is really paying off.
"The data is showing us that this is a critical experience for children and their life-long ability to learn," Judge said. "They go into kindergarten prepared at a level that was really unheard of four years ago."
Judge talked about the benefits of 4-year-old pre-school after visiting a class at Keokuk's Hawthorne Elementary. While there, the students sang the alphabet forwards and backwards and identified phonetic sounds.
"We are doing very well with this across the state," Judge said. "In some communities, we have private pre-schools, head start, or a program through the public school."
Judge says $15-million will be available during the 2010-2011 school year.
Six school districts in Lee, Des Moines, and Van Buren Counties have received state grants for 4-year-old preschool programs. That list includes the Keokuk, Burlington, West Burlington, Danville, Van Buren, and Harmony School Districts.
Judge says the Culver Administration's commitment to pre-school for all will continue if given another term. She says the next step is to explore pre-school for 3-year-olds.