The Kansas State Board of Education on Tuesday, May 9, approved 79 Kansas Preschool Pilot Grant Awards to Kansas school districts and partners. 

This program funds projects that provide high-quality education for preschool-aged children.  

The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) will wait to send official grant award notices until Gov. Laura Kelly has signed a budget appropriating funds. 

Recommended awards for each program can be viewed in the board materials here. 

To focus time and energy on more sustainable options to invest in preschool, only current Kansas Preschool Pilot grantees were eligible to apply for 2023-2024 renewal grants. 

Grant applicants were required to forecast the amount of revenue that applicants would receive from other sources of funding in 2023-2024 and demonstrate that they were reinvesting those other funding sources into their preschool programs before requesting Kansas Preschool Pilot grant funding to supplement gaps. 

Once KSDE staff members reviewed Kansas Preschool Pilot – Children’s Initiatives Fund (CIF) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) renewal grant requests, remaining funding was allocated to applicants previously receiving Kansas Preschool Pilot – Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) grants. The State Board recommendation reflects previous Kansas Preschool Pilot – GEER) grantees receiving roughly 52% of the award amount they would have received with sufficient funding. 

KSDE is authorized to reallocate funding among programs if a program is unable to spend funds awarded. If your plans for the upcoming school year have changed, and you will no longer need the full amount of your grant award, please notify Natalie McClane so your unused funds can be reallocated to other grantees.  

Grantees should keep the following in mind as they prepare for next year: 

• Grant awards are subject to legislative approval of funding. The total amount available and mechanism for distribution for 2023-2024 Kansas Preschool Pilot funding is dependent upon the final Kansas state budget for the upcoming fiscal year.  
• Grantees who wish to accept grant funds must submit their signed program assurances to McClane by June 1, 2023.  
• The timelines for KSDE reporting, Kansas Individual Data on Students (KIDS) and Management Information Systems (MIS) Collections for 2023-2024, will be posted to the KSDE School Finance Online Budget Packet Website at a later date. These timelines will include deadlines for submitting quarterly requests for reimbursement for TANF funds; the deadline for the Kansas Preschool Pilot- Children’s Initiatives Fund Final Expenditure Report; and the deadline for End-of- Year Performance Reporting using the Foundations for School Success application.  
• Grantees should ensure that all children served by the Kansas Preschool Pilot are marked as “1=Yes” in the appropriate field of the KIDS Collection System. 
• As noted on pages 16-17 of the Program Requirements, grantees will be required to track and report measures of success. Grantees should be prepared to report this information in the End-of-Year Performance Reporting. 
• Federal law requires that to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities must be educated with children who aren’t disabled. Indicator 6: Preschool Environments is an important data point that measures whether districts are providing special education services in the least restrictive environment. KSDE can support programs seeking to change preschool program structures so that they can improve inclusive practices.  

For questions about the Kansas Preschool Pilot Grant, contact McClane at nmcclane@ksde.org. 

The Board also approved Preschool-Aged At-Risk Funding and Parent as Teachers Grants during its May 9 meeting.