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_ 220 Item Details($) Appropriations($) ITEM 125.10. First Year Second Year First Year Second Year FY2025 FY2026 FY2025 FY2026 Governor's introduced biennial budget. The Department of Education shall biennially rebenchmark the Virginia Preschool Initiative per pupil amounts using a formula similar to the current formula supporting public K-12 education in Virginia. For slots filled as of September 30 each year, grants shall be based on the state share of 100 percent of the per pupil amount for a full-day or half-day program. For slots filled between October 1 and December 31 each year, grants shall be based on the state share of the per pupil amount for a full-day or half-day program prorated for the portion of the school year each child is served. Following the Department of Education's fall student record collection each year, the Department shall project the number of additional slots that may be filled between October 1 and December 31 each year. The Department of Education is authorized to prorate state funding for slots filled between October 1 and December 31 each year if demand exceeds available appropriation. (ii) VPI Expansion funds are provided to serve at-risk three-year-olds who are residents of Virginia and unserved by Head Start funding using criteria determined by the Department of Education and subject to available appropriation. Localities may apply to participate by May 15 each year and shall be selected on a competitive basis. Localities shall be required to: (i) demonstrate broad stakeholder support, (ii) track outcomes for participating children, (iii) demonstrate how they will maximize federal and state funds to preserve existing birth to five slots, including certifying that all local Head Start slots are filled, (iv) support inclusive practices of children with identified special needs, and (v) collaborate among the school division, local department of social services, programs accepting child care subsidy payments, and providers for Head Start, private child care, and early childhood special education and early intervention programs. Localities that meet the following characteristics shall be prioritized for participation: (i) communities with limited child care options; (ii) programs serving children in private, mixed-delivery settings; or (iii) communities that demonstrate full support of public and private providers. Grants shall be distributed based on an allocation formula providing the state share of the per pupil amounts as provided for four-year old slots. (iii) Full-day programs shall operate for a minimum of five and one-half instructional hours, excluding breaks for meals, and half-day programs shall operate for a minimum of three hours of classroom instructional time per day, excluding breaks for lunch. Virginia Preschool Initiative programs may include unstructured recreational time that is intended to develop teamwork, social skills, and overall physical fitness in any calculation of total instructional time, provided that such unstructured recreational time does not exceed 15 percent of total instructional time or teaching hours. No additional state funding is provided for programs operating greater than three hours per day but less than five and one-half hours per day. In determining the state and local shares of funding, the composite index of local ability-to-pay is capped at 0.5000. (iv) For new programs in the first year of implementation only, programs operating less than a full school year shall receive state funds on a fractional basis determined by the pro-rata portion of a school year program provided. In determining the prorated state funds to be received, a school year shall be 180 days or 990 teaching hours. (v) To ensure children with special needs have equitable opportunity to enter kindergarten ready, all Virginia Preschool Initiative programs are expected to be inclusive of children with disabilities. Specifically, programs shall meet or exceed a target inclusion rate, such that 10 percent of all children participating in the Virginia Preschool Initiative are children with disabilities, defined as those with an Individualized Education Plan, and are served in inclusive classrooms that include children who do not have an Individualized Education Plan. A program that is unable to meet this target shall provide reasons a 10 percent inclusion rate was not achieved in the given school year in its annual comprehensive report. 2.a. Any locality that desires to participate in this grant program must submit a proposal through its chief administrator (county administrator or city manager) by May 15 of each year. The chief administrator, in conjunction with the school superintendent, shall identify a lead agency for this program within the locality. The lead agency shall be responsible for developing a local plan for the delivery of quality preschool services to at-risk children, which demonstrates the coordination of resources and the combination of funding streams in an effort to serve the greatest number of at-risk four-year-old children and, if applicable, to serve at-risk three-year-old children. The plan shall also include a mechanism for annually