Department of Education

SCHOOL READINESS

Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request

CONTENTS

Page

Appropriation, Adjustments, and Transfers................................................................................... 1

Authorizing Legislation.................................................................................................................. 2

Activity:

Preschool Incentive Demonstration Program........................................................................... 3
SCHOOL READINESS

1 

Appropriation, Adjustments, and Transfers

(dollars in thousands)

Appropriation/Adjustments/Transfers 2023 2024 2025

Discretionary:

Discretionary Appropriation 0 0 $25,000

Discretionary Total, discretionary appropriation 0 0 $25,000 
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2 

Authorizing Legislation

(dollars in thousands)

Activity

2024

Authorized footnote

2024

Annualized CR footnote

2025

Authorized footnote

2025

Request

Language Acquisition: Preschool incentive demonstration

program (Proposed legislation)

0 0 To be determined $25,000
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Activity:

Preschool Incentive Demonstration Program

(Proposed legislation) 

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2025 Authorization: To be determined

Budget Authority: 

Period of fund availability: 

2024 Annualized CR 2025 Request Change

0 $25,000 +$25,000 Period of fund availability:

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Preschool Incentive Demonstration Program would expand access to free high-quality 

preschool for children eligible to attend Title I schools through a mixed-delivery model. The 

program would make competitive awards to local educational agencies (LEAs) or consortia of 

LEAs to support the development of new preschool programs and to provide additional 

preschool seats and classrooms in schools and community-based settings, through 

partnerships with Head Start or other community-based preschool providers. The program 

would also support LEAs and participating schools and partners in improving the quality of 

preschool services within the LEA and partner sites and aligning high-quality preschool with 

kindergarten and high-quality kindergarten through third grade (K-3) instruction. This includes 

facilitating transitions from preschool to kindergarten and from kindergarten through third grade 

that are informed by the science of learning and development. Facilitating a smooth transition to 

kindergarten is a priority for this demonstration program, along with supporting educational 

continuity across the preschool to third grade continuum. 

The Preschool Incentive Demonstration Program would support LEAs to provide mixed-delivery 

preschool services by braiding Title I and other federal, state, and local funds to expand access 

to preschool seats for students eligible to attend participating Title I schools (all students who 

live in a participating school’s catchment area and other students eligible to attend the school,

as identified by the LEA). As required by Title I, grantees would be required to meet, at a 

minimum, the education performance standards of the Head Start Program Performance 

Standards, and students must be served by qualified, high-quality educators, with appropriate 

student-teacher ratios. Applicants would be required to describe how they would sustain 

services after the grant has ended, and how they would prioritize underserved children and 

communities in their selection of schools and partners for participation in the program. 

Grantees would be allowed to use funds for activities needed to expand access to high-quality 

preschool for 4-year-olds eligible to attend Title I schools served by the grant and to increase 

quality of existing preschool services within the LEA and partner programs in the community. 

This could include, but is not limited to, hiring LEA-level staff with expertise in early childhood 

education and program development; recruitment and enrollment efforts with mixed-delivery 
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partners; developing and providing professional development for preschool teachers, school 

administrators, and other staff in the LEA, Head Start, and other community partners; increased 

support for multilingual learners; improving early identification of and provision of services and 

supports under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for children with disabilities 

and delays in the schools and in community-based programs; modifying data collection and 

reporting systems to include preschool; and creating or modifying kindergarten transition 

standards and kindergarten teacher professional development to help transition both the child 

and family to kindergarten. 

At the program level, uses of funds could include, but are not limited to, increasing the number 

of seats for eligible children in all settings served by the program; modifying classrooms and 

bathrooms, equipment, and outdoor play areas to be appropriate for 4-year-olds; recruiting, 

preparing and supporting preschool-certified teachers and support staff with expertise in 

providing services to 4-year-olds; providing professional development for existing support staff 

regarding preschool-specific skills; providing services to assist eligible preschool children in 

funded programs in the transition from the preschool classroom to kindergarten and supporting 

instructional alignment across preschool through the elementary grades; and other activities 

necessary to enable the LEA to begin implementing sustainable preschool for 4-year-olds in 

Title I schools, Head Start, or community-based settings by the end of the grant period.

Applicants will be required to demonstrate how they plan to use Title I and other federal funds 

(such as IDEA, Title II), as well as state and local funds, to finance this model. Specifically, 

applicants will have to address how they will braid federal, state, and local funds, including Head 

Start funding when Head Start funds are present in the local community served by the LEA and 

where local Head Start partners are available, with Title I funds. Applicants will leverage the 

local infrastructure of early childhood education as they seek to expand high-quality preschool 

and, as a result, will deepen investments in that infrastructure. 

Braiding with Head Start funds, where applicable, may be accomplished through using grant or 

other federal, state, and local funds to expand or supplement Head Start programs and 

services, including funding compensation increases for Head Start educators and staff, or 

through the initiation of cooperative agreements or subcontracts between Head Start programs 

and LEAs. For example, school districts can fund existing Head Start grantees to extend the 

duration of services in Head Start programs and the professional learning, growth, and retention 

of Head Start educators and staff, including through compensation enhancements. School 

districts can also offer space to Head Start programs in order to co-locate services for Head 

Start eligible children within the neighborhood elementary school participating in the preschool 

program supported by the grant. Funds can also be used to enhance and expand communitybased providers participating in the program in these ways. The competition will include a 

priority for LEAs that serve as Head Start agencies, or that are Head Start delegates.

Grantees would be required to conduct a community needs assessment to assess the supply of 

preschool services available in Title I schools and their surrounding communities for eligible 

4-year-old children, including Head Start and other community-based preschool providers. 

Grantees will be required to use this assessment to design a plan that builds on the existing 

supply of preschool services and considers the impact of its proposal on child care (including 
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Preschool Incentive Demonstration Program

5 

infant and toddler care) and preschool availability, and on Head Start programs and services, 

and include in its plan how it will support coordinated enrollment, including encouraging and 

facilitating enrollment in Head Start for children and families that would benefit from Head Start’s 

comprehensive services model. In addition, applicants must demonstrate how they will 

coordinate to expand access, and not supplant, the delivery of high-quality preschool programs 

funded under this grant with existing services for preschool-aged children including, if 

applicable, state preschool programs and programs and services provided under Title I of 

ESEA, part C and Part B of IDEA, the Head Start Act, Preschool Development Grants, Birth to 

5, and Child Care & Development Block grant Act. Applicants would also be required to develop 

and make publicly available data and progress reports. 

The Department would collaborate with the Department of Health and Human Services in the 

administration of the program.

FY 2025 BUDGET REQUEST

For fiscal year 2025, the Administration requests $25.0 million for the Preschool Incentive 

Demonstration Program, first-time funding for this program. The request would support a new 

competitive Preschool Incentive Demonstration Program to expand access to preschool in 

school- and community-based settings for children eligible to attend Title I schools through a 

mixed-delivery model. The program would support smooth transitions to kindergarten and 

educational continuity across the preschool to third grade (PK-3) continuum.

Expanding access to preschool in Title I schools, and for the students they serve, is critical to 

the Department’s mission to promote student achievement and preparation for global 

competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. By the time 

students start kindergarten, students from low-income backgrounds are often well behind their 

more economically advantaged peers who have had the opportunity to participate in high quality 

preschool. Schools, then, are already playing catch up to close gaps when students enter 

kindergarten. 

Preschool is an important research-based strategy proven to reduce disparities before 

kindergarten entry, particularly for children from low-income backgrounds, and lay a path for 

early school success once aligned with K-3. 

Research shows that preschool improves performance in reading and math; reduces placement 

in special education programs; reduces involvement in the juvenile justice system; and improves 

post-secondary education outcomes. Full-day preschool, rather than half-day preschool, has 

been shown to be even more beneficial to students’ literacy, vocabulary, and math 

performance.0F

1 Research also demonstrates that every $1 invested in high-quality early 

1 https://www.colorado.edu/today/2019/09/30/full-day-pre-k-beats-half-day-first-its-kind-studyshows#:~:text=In%20a%20first-of-itskind%20study%2C%20researchers%20working%20in%20a,classes%20could%20have%20big%20benefits%20for%

20their%20learning; and https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/northwest/askarel/fullday-vs-halfday-preschool.asp. 
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Preschool Incentive Demonstration Program

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childhood care and education can yield $31F

1 to $72F2 over the long run, as a result of these 

improved outcomes. 

This proposal is critical to the Department’s efforts to improve student performance on reading 

and math in elementary school. IES research has shown that alignment between preschool and 

kindergarten can increase the impact of kindergarten for students from low-income 

backgrounds. The program would support better aligning the PK-3 continuum and lead to 

greater success in the later grades, including in third grade reading and math, and fourth grade 

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores. While this preschool to third 

grade alignment is a critical strategy, it is currently underutilized.

PROGRAM OUTPUT MEASURES

(dollars in thousands)

Output Measures 2023 2024 2025

Number of new awards 0 0 4-8

Funding for new awards 0 0 $24,750

Range of new awards 0 0 $3,000-7,000

Peer review of new award 

applications

0 0 $250

PROGRAM PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

Performance Measures

The Department will establish goals and performance indicators to assess the impact and 

effectiveness of activities supported through the Preschool Incentive Demonstration Program.

1 https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w23215/w23215.pdf

2 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/705718