Preschool will soon be offered for free to all 4-year-olds in the Howard-Winneshiek School District, thanks to a grant the district was recently awarded.
    The Statewide Voluntary Preschool Grant will distribute approximately $309,000 to the school district beginning this fall, allowing children who are 4 years old by Sept. 15 to attend preschool free of charge at several schools throughout the district.
    In addition to covering tuition, the grant will also cover transportation costs for students.
    Howard-Winneshiek Superintendent Brian Ney, who received notification of the approval on June 9, said the grant is very competitive. Howard-Winn. is one of 48 Iowa school districts who were approved to receive the grant this year. The state received 161 applications.
    The goal of the statewide program, which was initiated in 2007, is to give Iowa youth greater access to high-quality preschool environments.
    “Finances will no longer be a barrier, and transportation will no longer be a barrier,” Ney said.
    High-quality preschool programs are often defined as those which are taught by a certified preschool teacher with an early childhood endorsement and those programs which adhere to Iowa Early Learning Standards, according to Crestwood Elementary School Principal Shirley Sovereign.
    State officials have set a goal to have 90 percent of all 4-year-olds in the state enrolled in preschool services with a certified teacher by 2010.
  School districts who receive the grant must follow a required curriculum and preschool students must be in attendance a minimum of 10 hours each week.
   “This is much, much more than daycare,” Ney said.
    Quality preschool programs help prepare students for kindergarten, Ney said.
    “Kids are expected to learn more things at a younger age now,” he said.
    The grant will allow for 4-year-olds to attend preschool at five locations throughout the school district. The centers include Crestwood Elementary Preschool, Elma Preschool, Lime Springs Elementary Preschool, Ridgeway Elementary Preschool and Notre Dame Preschool. Days and times of offerings will vary at each location.
    This fall will mark the first year public preschool programs will be offered in Ridgeway and Lime Springs.
    Students attending public preschool are expected to enroll in the center located in their attendance area.
    The exact amount of funding the state will award Howard-Winn. will depend on how many students register for preschool this fall. Ney estimated that about 93 4-year-olds will enroll in preschool this fall, an approximate growth of between 10 and 15 percent from the 2007-08 school year.
    The district's preschools are not intended to replace Head Start, Ney said. Students who qualify for the federally-funded program may continue to attend it.
    School officials ask area parents to be patient as the final plans for this fall’s new preschool programs are worked out. Registration materials will be sent out to area parents on July 15. If parents who are interested in enrolling their 4-year-old in preschool do not receive registration materials by July 21, they should contact the superintendent’s office at 563-547-2762.
    Parents are not required to send their children to preschool, but Ney hopes families will take advantage of the free program.
    “It is our goal to have 100 percent of eligible students to attend one of the preschools available in the district so that all students will have the same chance to start kindergarten with a solid curriculum background,” he said.
    Ney and Sovereign were thankful for the community’s support and collaboration during the grant writing and application process.
    “It was a collaborative effort between all the people in the community that made this work,” Ney said. “Over the past school year, countless hours were spent by many individuals in preparing and writing the grant.”