BILLINGS — Montana has added hundreds of open slots for preschool students, but the state may not have enough money to support them.
The Billings Gazette reports Montana created more than 300 preschool slots in the last school year, raising the number to 750.
But as the U.S. Department of Education sends out the Preschool Development Grant’s final check for $10 million, it’s unclear how those seats will be sustained in the future. This is the last payment of a four-year, $40 million federal grant that schools will use through the 2018-19 school year.
The price of preschool seats exceeded projections during the first year of grant implementation, with costs soaring to an average of more than $14,000 per slot.