Clinton Washington School should see a boost in their Pre-Kindergarten numbers this year. That is because the district was one of the recipients of the Pre-K grant given out by the state of Illinois.

The grant the district received will well over double the number or Pre-K students the district currently is able to serve. Superintendent of Clinton Schools Dr. Jeff Holmes says this may be some of the best news the district has received in some time.

[audio:clintonprekgrant1.mp3]A Word From Dr. Holmes[/audio]

In the past, the grant has been distributed by the state of Illinois, however, this year the grant was distributed based off of districts who applied for the grant and were determined to be in the most need of the grant. Dr. Holmes says this is good for the schools, he believes they need to continue to offer Pre-K to the families of the district.

[audio:clintonprekgrant2.mp3]A Word From Dr. Holmes[/audio]

Dr. Holmes explains, the state making the process competitive is because of the tight budget they are on. While he is hesitant to believe in the state's guarantee to make the payments on the program, he says money for the program has been budgeted by legislators in Springfield to make the payments to the schools receiving the grant money.

[audio:clintonprekgrant3.mp3]A Word From Dr. Holmes[/audio]

With the grant, the district will be able to hire four staff members, one full time teacher, a part time teacher and an aid for each one. The grant amount the district received was almost $216-thousand dollars.

Dr. Holmes encourages anyone on the waiting list to get into the Pre-K program to contact Washington School to get more information by calling 935-6383.