Sen. Murkowski Presents $1.06 Million Grant For New Preschool To Mat-Su School District
Palmer, AK - Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski presented the Mat-Su Borough School District with a new three-year grant for $1,058,397 to fund the proposed Nanuaq Preschool, a community-based development program designed to increase school readiness skills specifically for Alaska Native children ages three and four.
Murkowski, during a visit to the Sherrod Elementary School in Palmer to discuss the progress that has been made in implementing the No Child Left Behind educational reform act, presented the grant from the U.S. Department of Education Demonstration Grants for Indian Children program to Mat-Su Borough School District officials. The grant is designed to help development of a program based on partnering with the children's parents since parents are a child's first and most important teachers.
"The No Child Left Behind Act requires that local districts do all they can to improve educational opportunities and improve the achievement of elementary and secondary school students. This grant provides money that the district can use to help Native preschool children prepare for the classroom setting and subsequently improve their performance throughout their educational career," said Murkowski.
The grant will fund the Nanuaq Preschool, a program that will utilize "an integrated preschool approach supported by parents, children and program staff coming together to instruct and model developmentally and culturally appropriate child educational academic activities in a family-centered setting," according to the U.S. Department of Education.
The preschool, being created to serve 83 students, will open in Palmer.
The grant is just one of three that the Senator announced are being awarded for Native Children's programs in the state. Other grants are being awarded to the Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau and to the Lower Kuskokwim School District for another pre-school program (See related release).
Murkowski during her visit to the Palmer school also spoke of the progress of the No Child Left Behind Act and about ways to make the act work even better for Alaska students statewide.