FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 5, 2020
PHOENIX, State Capitol - Citing a loss in federal pre-kindergarten education funding, Rep. Lorenzo Sierra, D-Avondale, will announce a bill on Thursday to bolster pre-school and other pre-grade school programs. He will be joined by more than two dozen preschool students for the West Valley to unveil the bill at a press conference at 12:30 pm, Thursday in the Rose Garden. Rep. Sierra will be joined by Rep. Aaron Lieberman and early childhood development experts.
"Before 2019, more than 70 school districts and 2,000 low-income families in Arizona relied on grants from the federal government to subsidize preschool programs, amounting to a total of $20 million," said Sierra. "The federal government pulled back the program and made it a competitive process. Arizona applied, but did not receive any funding. This bill calls for Arizona to make up the dollars we lost from the feds."
Rep. Sierra's bill would replace that funding over a three-year period, starting with an appropriation of $7.5 million that will grow to a total of $22.5 million set aside for program assessment.