Governor announces $25 million in preschool grants
MURFREESBORO — Gov. Phil Bredesen on Thursday traveled the state to announce the recipients of $25 million in grants that will be used for a voluntary preschool program in Tennessee.
The initiative was the centerpiece of the governor’s budget. In June, he signed a law allowing lottery funds to be used to create about 300 classrooms for some 6,000 poor or at-risk 4-year-olds at the state’s schools.
The state’s pilot program, which was set up in the late 1990s, has been receiving $10 million in state funds and has served about 3,000 children a year.
Before stopping here, the governor and state Education Commissioner Lana Seivers began their tour early Thursday morning with stops in Bristol and Chattanooga. The trip was to conclude with visits in Jackson and Millington.
“I’m committed to keeping education the highest priority in our state, and it starts with pre-K,” Bredesen said at Bellwood Discovery School.
Each of the 106 districts that requested a class got at least one, officials said. East Tennessee got the most with 112. Middle Tennessee got 107 and West Tennessee 81.
Mary Wade, vice-chair of the Murfreesboro City School Board, said the grant is very helpful because of the lack of money to put more children in preschool.
“We had a waiting list of over 100 and we had to turn those kids away because we didn’t have the funding,” Wade said. “But because of the generous gift to us, we’ll be able to serve these children.”
Seivers said parents, teachers, school superintendents and others realize the benefits of being able to “expand a small pilot program in such a big way.”
“They know that those kids are going to have another opportunity to be prepared to learn to read and write and all the things to be successful,” she said.
Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, agreed.
“It’s an opportunity to get the at-risk children off to a good start,” said Tracy, who served as secretary of the Senate Education Committee and worked with the governor’s preschool legislation from its beginning.
“I think it’s going to be a good thing for Tennessee.”
Last month, the state Department of Education created an office to oversee the preschool initiative.
The Nashville-based Office of Early Learning will guide schools through the process of opening pre-kindergarten classes, training staff and drumming up community support. It also will monitor how the state money is used in each of the programs.