The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) will use a competitive Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts (PA PKC) Request for Applications (RFA) process to award expansion funds beginning in fiscal year 2022-23.

Governor Tom Wolf’s proposed 2022-23 state budget includes an additional $60 million for PA PKC. With this expansion funding, the state will be able to increase the current cost per child and increase the number of children served in high-quality pre-kindergarten.

About

OCDEL will use a competitive application process to disperse available state expansion funding to select eligible grantees beginning in FY 2022-23. The RFA is released in advance to give providers time to conduct outreach to families; recruit, hire and train staff; and plan for implementing the program pending grant approval.

The ceiling or limit on the potential number of slots that may be awarded to any applicant will depend upon a county’s unmet need percentages and the amount of funding available. Funding is contingent upon approval by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Grants are funded via state dollars; therefore, carryover funds are not permitted. All grant dollars identified in this FY 2022-23 application must be encumbered or spent by June 30, 2023.

Eligibility

Pennsylvania continues to be committed to a mixed delivery system. As such, eligible applicants include existing Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts grantees and new applicants from these five eligible entity categories:

1. School districts;

2. PDE Licensed nursery schools;

3. Head Start grantees;

4. Child care centers and group child care homes designated at Keystone STAR 3 or STAR 4; and

5. A third-party entity applying for Pennsylvania Pre‐K Counts funding to administer the lead agency responsibilities for entities that are eligible to provide the classroom services under the categories listed above.

How to Apply

Because of the need to establish access to eGrants procurement system, applicants must submit a completed Letter of Intent to apply for funds. The template posted at PKC How to Apply must be used. The Letter of Intent represents the applicant’s intent to apply for Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts funding and includes the legal name of the eligible agency that will apply, the AUN associated with the applying legal entity, preliminary information about requested funding, program model, provider type, and area to be served. Except for the legal entity and AUN, information submitted in the Letter of Intent may be modified in the final eGrants application.

Eligible applicants must provide assurance that they operate in full compliance with Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Statute, Regulations, and Guidance and should thoroughly review that document prior to submitting a Letter of Intent. The application review process will include evaluation of the extent to which the applicant demonstrates knowledge and understanding of the Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Statute and Regulations.

Programs interested in applying must submit a fully completed Letter of Intent by 3 p.m. on May 11, 2022, to RA-PAPreKCounts@pa.gov. Programs that do not submit the Letter of Intent will not be able to access or submit a funding application. Late submissions will not be accepted. Agencies submitting a fully complete Letter of Intent by the due date will be notified when the Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts application is open in eGrants.

Details

For more details, read Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Request for Applications (RFA) Guidance and see the PA Keys website.