Department of Education

SCHOOL READINESS

Fiscal Year 2024 Budget

CONTENTS

Page

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

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

Activity: 

Preschool Incentive Demonstration Program........................................................................... 3
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1 

Appropriation, Adjustments, and Transfers

(dollars in thousands)

Appropriation/Adjustments/Transfers 2022 2023 2024 

Discretionary:

Discretionary Appropriation ..................................................... 0 0 $500,000 

Discretionary Total, discretionary appropriation................. 0 0 $500,000
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Authorizing Legislation

(dollars in thousands)

Activity

2023

Authorized footnote

2023

Appropriationfootnote

2024

Authorizedfootnote

2024

Budget

Language Acquisition: AmPreschool incentive demonstration program 

(Proposed legislation)...

0 0 To be determined $500,000
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Activity:

Preschool Incentive Demonstration Program

(Proposed legislation) 

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2024 Authorization: To be determined

Budget Authority:

Period of fund availability: 2023 Appropriation 2024 Request Change

0 $500,000 +$500,000

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 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 

3rd 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). Preschool services must be delivered by high-quality, appropriately 

compensated educators and must include school and provider-wide programming that 

maximizes the impact of programs on eligible students, promotes classrooms with students from 

diverse backgrounds, and that is aligned with the LEA’s kindergarten to 3rd grade continuum. 

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 will sustain services after the grant has 

ended, and how they will prioritize underserved children and communities as they select schools 

and partners for participation in the program. 

Grantees may 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 
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includes, but is not limited to, hiring LEA-level staff with expertise in early childhood education 

and curriculum development; developing a preschool curriculum; 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; 

early identification of and provision of IDEA services and supports for children with disabilities 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 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; hiring 

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, 

and providing compensation enhancements to provide wage parity and attract and retain the 

qualified educators needed; services to assist eligible preschool children in funded programs in 

the transition from the preschool classroom to kindergarten and support 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 will 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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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 must develop and make publicly available data and progress reports that address, at 

a minimum, the number of additional preschool seats added and children served, discipline, 

multilingual learning, inclusion and accommodations for children with disabilities, workforce 

compensation, integration at the classroom level across demographic characteristics (e.g., 

socioeconomic, racial, language and disability), and disaggregated child outcomes. 

As the Department administers the program, it will collaborate with the Department of Health 

and Human Services.

FY 2024 BUDGET REQUEST

The request includes $500 million in fiscal year 2024 for 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 will facilitate a smooth transition to kindergarten, and support educational continuity 

across the preschool to 3rd grade 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 families 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 low-income children, 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 and probability that students are incarcerated while in 

high school; and improves post-secondary outcomes. Research also shows that every $1 

invested in high-quality early childhood care and education can yield $3 to $7 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 
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and math in elementary school. IES research has shown that low-income children come from 

preschool and encounter repeat content in kindergarten, as a result of the lack of alignment 

between preschool and kindergarten, which minimizes the impact of kindergarten for these 

students. The program will support better aligning the PK-3 continuum and lead to greater 

success in the later grades, including in 3rd grade reading and math, and 4th grade National 

Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores. While this preschool to 3rd grade 

alignment is a critical strategy, it is currently underutilized.

PROGRAM OUTPUT MEASURES

(dollars in thousands)

Output Measures 2022 2023 2024

Number of new awards 0 0 20-27

Funding for new awards 0 0 $470,000

Range of new awards

0

0 $10,000-

50,000

Technical assistance and evaluation 0 0 $25,000

Peer review of new award applications 0 0 $5,000

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.

.