Interested in starting or expanding public pre-k in your school administrative unit during the 2023-24 school year? If so, the Maine DOE’s Early Learning Team invites you to attend an informational session regarding a Pre-K Expansion Grant opportunity that will be available later this year.
Pre-K Expansion Grant Funding Informational Session
Date: June 23, 2022
Time: 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Description: To review the grant opportunity and anticipated requirements.
Register here
Twelve Maine School Administrative Units (SAUs) were awarded Pre-K Expansion grants totaling $2.2 million for start-up or expansion of pre-k programming during the 2022-23 school year. The Pre-K Expansion grants, authorized through Maine’s Jobs and Recovery Plan (American Rescue Plan Act allocation), provide funds to the Department of Education to support SAUs with start-up activities necessary to establish new or expanded public prekindergarten programs to address the inequities in availability of early education opportunities resulting from the COVID pandemic. Households with young children have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. This project directly addresses this harm by supporting schools to overcome barriers that are preventing them from starting and expanding public pre-k and to transition from part-time to full-time programming, thus increasing the number of young children in high-quality prekindergarten. A greater availability of full-time prekindergarten slots will support parents with young children to work and prepare young children for success in kindergarten and beyond.
Round two of pre-K expansion grant funding will be released to applicants in the late summer/early fall of 2022. Funding for this round will amount to approximately seven million dollars for Pre-K expansion in school year 2023-2024. Interested SAUs should monitor the DOE Newsroom as well as the Division of Procurement Services site for release of the next RFA.
Questions may be directed to the Director of Early Learning, leeann.larsen@maine.gov, or the Early Childhood Specialist, nicole.madore@maine.gov.