A federal preschool expansion grant awarded to RSU 12 in December 2014 for a five-year period has been eliminated from the preliminary federal budget for fiscal year 2016 to 2017. The grant funds are guaranteed for a second year, RSU 12 Superintendent Howard Tuttle said. After that, the availability of those funds is uncertain.
“At this point in time, the full five years (of the grant) is not part of the federal budget,” Tuttle said. “I’m assuming that could change. We need to let people know this is a big deal.”
RSU 12 has joined forces with 18 other states to urge the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate Appropriations Committees to restore the eliminated funds. A letter is in circulation among the recipients of the Preschool Development Grant to save federal funding for early childhood learning programs.
In Maine, four school districts, five nonprofits, and state Rep. Margaret Rotundo, D-Lewiston, have also signed onto the letter.
RSU 12 board members are urging people to contact Maine’s federal senators and representatives to lobby for the restoration of preschool expansion grant funds.
“It’s a little frustrating,” Tuttle said. “The funds are not guaranteed for five years as we were told.”
RSU 12 was one of 13 school districts in Maine awarded a U.S. Department of Education grant for preschool expansion in December 2014. At the time it was awarded, RSU 12 developed a five-year, $3.2 million budget for new preschool classrooms in the district.
The funds were to be a launching pad for a universal pre-kindergarten program at RSU 12, which the board hoped to fund with the additional subsidy from an increased student count.
In its first year of operation, RSU 12 opened preschool classes in Chelsea, Somerville, and Whitefield, which are currently full. The district planned to open two additional preschool classrooms over the five-year lifespan of the grant, with the hope of opening a classroom at a location accessible to Westport Island and Alna students.
Those plans are now in jeopardy. According to the letter in circulation, the House Appropriations Committee recently approved spending bills for fiscal year 2016 to 2017 that did not include funding for the Preschool Development Grant program.
“When you resume work on the fiscal year 2016 appropriations process, we urge you to restore funding for these grants,” the letter stated.
If the funding is not restored, preschool expansion grant funds will run out at the end of December 2016, Tuttle said. Through its collaboration with Head Start, RSU 12 will be able to run the preschool program for the remainder of the 2016 to 2017 school year.
With an increased subsidy from the additional preschool students, RSU 12 will maintain its pre-K program, even if grant funds are eliminated. However, RSU 12’s plan to open two additional classrooms may be sidelined by the federal budget change.
“We’ll still have a pre-K program,” Tuttle said. “It just might look different.”
For more information, contact RSU 12 Superintendent Howard Tuttle at 549-3261 ext. 2011 or htuttle@svrsu.org.
