State Seeking Preschool Funding

New Mexico is in the running to get $25 million in federal money, which officials would use to track data on early childhood programs, create common standards for preschools and help develop new programs in needy areas.

New Mexico is one of five states eligible to compete for the money, to be spent on early childhood education and health.

The U.S. departments of education and health and human services announced Monday that New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon and Wisconsin are eligible to apply for a total of $133 million.

Last year, 37 states and jurisdictions applied for the early childhood grants. The money was awarded to the nine states with the highest scores.

The states that were announced Monday are the five states with the best applications that did not receive first-round funding. This means they have already submitted strong applications and have a good chance of receiving funds. The program is part of the federal government’s Race to the Top program, which is a series of competitive grants.

The states will have to amend their applications, since less money is available this year.

Some specifics outlined in New Mexico’s initial application — which is subject to change — propose creating “Early Childhood Investment Zones,” in communities with many at-risk students and community-wide desire for change. The application proposes helping these “zones” create new programs.

The application also proposes creating a statewide database on early learning, to track students and programs.

“I’m pleased that New Mexico is among five states receiving an opportunity to compete for Race to the Top funding for our schools,” Republican Gov. Susana Martinez said in a written statement. “This comes on the heels of New Mexico being selected as one of only 11 states to receive a waiver exempting us from No Child Left Behind. I am committed to continuing our bipartisan work — in New Mexico and with the federal government — to lead on education reform and increase student achievement.”

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., emphasized the importance of preschool.

“Early childhood education helps children to be prepared to start school ready to learn. The funding would help the state develop an effective system of early childhood learning and ensure the programs serving our children are of high quality,” Bingaman said.

New Mexico’s original application proposed collaboration among the state Public Education, Health and Children, Youth and Families departments. According to the application, these departments too often work separately on the same problems.

State Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera said cross-agency collaboration made New Mexico’s application strong. She gave an example, saying preschool programs run by CYFD and PED have not always been coordinated with each other or with kindergarten expectations. She hopes to use grant money to change that.

“It’s establishing what our expectations are, then working backwards so there is a seamless transition,” she said. “Let’s make sure we’re seamless in our expectations and how we work together in a given program.”
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal