LUCERNE, Calif. — Lucerne Elementary School District is among 11 school districts that have been awarded a total of $33.7 million to repair or construct early education facilities throughout the state.
On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the grants, which are part of the $490 million Access California Preschool, Transitional Kindergarten and Full-Day Kindergarten Facilities Grant Program.
“California is committed to increasing opportunity and equity for every student across the state, regardless of their Zip code or background,” said Gov. Newsom. “We’ve made major strides over the years to expand services to support young children and their families and provide access to free, high-quality, inclusive prekindergarten education for all children. This funding is critical for school districts to construct the facilities necessary to support the expanded learning time.”
The program, administered by the Department of General Services Office of Public School Construction, provides funding to school districts that lack the facilities to provide full-day programs for preschool, transitional kindergarten and full-day kindergarten.
Forty-seven projects for 44 school districts — including Lucerne Elementary, the only Lake County District — were initially funded in the 2019-20 fiscal year to create 147 new Title V compliant classrooms.
In that first round, the State Allocation Board at its October 2019 meeting apportioned $1,683,516 for Lucerne Elementary.
Due to its successful implementation, the program was expanded to include preschool and transitional kindergarten facilities.
At its meeting on Wednesday, the State Allocation Board awarded approximately $33.7 million for 11 projects within 11 school districts statewide.
The projects are located within Lake, Kern, Kings, Merced, Monterey and Tulare counties.
In this latest round, Lucerne Elementary received $2,018,191, according to the meeting documents.
The state matching funds for program projects are distributed to local school districts to help finance new school construction projects or the retrofit of existing classrooms, the Department of General Services reported.
State officials said funding priority is given to school districts that lack financial resources to provide a local match and/or are located in an underserved community.
Lucerne Elementary Superintendent Megan Grant said the early education grant is for the construction of two new transitional kindergarten classrooms.
“We are excited to continue to expand our school capacity with brand-new classrooms,” Grant said.
The Office of Public School Construction will distribute the funds to eligible school districts in two phases.
The first phase provides funding to assist school districts in the design of the project, and the second phase provides funding to assist in the construction of the project.
Additional funding is expected to be allocated at the State Allocation Board’s October meeting.
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