A new state grant will help prevent poverty from becoming a barrier to students’ best possible start in Clinton schools. The Best Beginnings program, a kindergarten readiness initiative for Clinton children, is expanding for the 2015-’16 school year to add a full-day preschool classroom to its half-day inclusive classroom program.

The program will be funded through a state Smart Start Grant applied for in December; Clinton was one of 14 school districts selected to receive the grant in March.

The grant will fund the program with $75,000 a year for the next 10 years, as well as $75,000 this year for capital improvements, including renovations to the playground and the addition of a bathroom so the program can become accredited by National Association for the Education of Young Children.

“We’ll receive the funding for 10 years as long as we maintain our obligations and there is the potential to apply for additional classrooms,” said Kim Brown, the director of Best Beginnings and the school psychologist at the Joel Elementary School, where the program is housed. “The addition of this program means we are increasing opportunities for children in Clinton to attend a high-quality preschool program, which has a lasting effect on their educational success.”

Best Beginnings held an informational session for the new program on May 13 with 49 applications distributed. There will be 15 to 18 slots available with several slots to be decided by several criteria, including income requirements, children with Individual Education Programs (IEP) not already enrolled in Best Beginnings, and those not already enrolled in another community program.

“Our new class is primarily for kids who don’t have the opportunity for preschool due to financial difficulties,” said Brown. “We’d love to see our programming expand so there aren’t children in Clinton that are left without preschool programming.”

The grant funding covers the majority of the costs with the remainder being met through tuition. The baseline of tuition is $75 per week, but families that qualify on the school readiness scale may pay less than $75 per week.

Those who already have applications have until Friday, May 29 to turn them in. If all of the slots aren’t filled after the first round of applications, there will be a second round of applications accepted.

The classroom for the new program will be housed in the kindergarten wing and will follow the same schedule as the Joel School. Students will be offered busing, lunches, and specials. In addition, Best Beginnings is working with community centers and other town resources to offer even more services.

“There will be a lot of collaboration between our new pre-k, our inclusive classroom, and our kindergarten teachers and we’re collaborating with community centers to provide wraparound care—before or after school and during the summer,” said Brown. “We’d like to see this expand and have preschool play a bigger role in our pre-k through 12 curriculum. We’re very excited as there’s been an unmet need for access to preschool in town for a long time.”

For more information, visit www.bestbeginnings.us.