Late last week, an Associated Press story reported that Idaho’s Department of Education recommended the state sit out the current Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant competition. Applications are due Oct. 19. State education and health officials sat down last week to discuss the application and determined the state needs to develop a pre-kindergarten program and sustain it before competing for one-time funds targeted at children ages birth through five.
Idaho was among a handful of states without state-funded pre-kindergarten programs that submitted a letter of intent to apply last summer.