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Escambia County, Ala. classroom on list

Gov. Kay Ivey and the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education announced Tuesday that an Escambia County Pre-K program is one of 135 new additional classrooms in 41 counties this fall.

This is the first round of new classroom funding that will be released by the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education. Additional classrooms will be funded based on further evaluation of high-needs areas prior to the commencement of the 2021-2022 school year.

The new classroom in Escambia County is New Horizons of New Horizons Freemanville Academy Pre-K1.

New classrooms will expand access to the state funded, voluntary pre-kindergarten program to 24,714 children in the 2021-2022 school year, with more than 1,373 classrooms statewide, moving closer to Alabama’s goal of serving 70 percent of eligible four-year-old children.

“Alabama’s First Class Pre-K has been recognized as a national model for delivering high-quality early childhood education and gives our youngest citizens a strong start to their educational journey,” Ivey said. “I am glad to see that even more students will have access to Pre-K next year and look forward to the day that all Alabama families who want Pre-K for their children have access.”

The Alabama Legislature approved Governor Ivey’s recommended budget increase for the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, which includes $151 million for the Office of School Readiness that administers First Class Pre-K. In addition to funding new classrooms throughout the state, the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education will continue to ensure pay parity for all First Class Pre-K teachers with the same 2% pay raise as K-12 public school teachers in the upcoming school year.

Visit http://children.alabama.gov/parents-families/findprek for the new classrooms list.