2-23-2023 12:43pm

NJ Governor Announces $120M in Grants for Preschool Facility Expansion

The grants aim to provide universal access to high-quality, full-day preschool throughout the state, with 16 school districts already receiving funding to establish or grow their programs.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced on Tuesday the availability of $120 million in grants for preschool facility expansion, as part of the state's effort to provide universal access to high-quality, full-day preschool. The grants, which are made possible through an allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars in the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) budget, mark the first time that preschool facility expansion grants will be available to Regular Operating Districts (RODs).

Governor Murphy, alongside Acting Commissioner of Education Angelica Allen-McMillan, Senator Andrew Zwicker, Assemblyman Roy Freiman, and other officials, made the announcement at Brooks Crossing and Deans Elementary School in New Jersey. The Governor also announced an additional $2.6 million to assist 33 school districts with supplementary start-up funding.

The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) will be accepting grant applications from RODs from March 1 to May 31, 2023. Eligible proposals will be prioritized by category in the following order: proposals to increase available preschool seats by at least 10 percent, proposals to enhance preschool facilities, proposals to expand preschool programs from half-day to full-day, and proposals to expand classroom capacity to house new preschool programs and guarantee additional seats.

The Murphy Administration has made providing free early childhood education to every three and four-year-old in New Jersey a priority since taking office. More than 160 school districts have introduced high-quality preschool programs, opening seats for more than 12,000 additional children.

The more than $11.4 million recently allocated to 16 school districts to create or expand their preschool programming during the 2022-2023 school year has enabled the addition of 1,081 full-day, high-quality preschool seats. The funding was distributed among the following school districts:

Atlantic County – Folsom School District,
Bergen County – Little Ferry School District,
Burlington County – Washington Township School District, Westampton Township School District,
Camden County – Gibbsboro School District, Lawnside School District,
Cumberland County – Downe Township School District,
Gloucester County – South Harrison Township School District,
Middlesex County – South Brunswick Township School District, South Plainfield School District,
Monmouth County – Allenhurst School District,
Morris County – Jefferson Township School District,
Ocean County – Island Heights School District,
Salem County – Andover Regional School District,
Sussex County – Elsinboro Township School District, and
Union County – Linden City School District.

In addition to the $11.4 million for the second round of preschool expansion aid this school year, an additional $2.6 million in start-up funding was made available to six of the 16 school districts that had been operating partially state-funded preschools at the start of the school year (Folsom, Little Ferry, Lawnside, Downe, South Plainfield, and Linden), as well as all 27 districts from the first round of FY23 awards announced earlier this school year, which began operating their full-day programs in October.