School Readiness Councils

Each municipality has a School Readiness Council (SRC) that’s responsible for making recommendations about the school readiness grant program.

SRC members include:

• The chief elected official or designee
• The superintendent of schools or a management-level staff person
• Parents and other interested community members
• Representatives from a range of programs that provide early education and child care
• Representatives from the community who provide services to children and their families — like librarians and healthcare providers

What is the process for allocating funds within a community?

The SRC issues a request for proposals to identify and fund high-quality local early care and education programs. After reviewing each proposal, the SRC purchases spaces for low-income children using their funding allocation. 

Eligible programs include:

• Public schools
• For profit and non-profit early childhood programs
• Head Start 
• State-funded child day care programs 

These programs must also meet one of the following criteria:

• Be accredited by NAEYC 
• Become NAEYC accredited within 3 years of being awarded the funds
• Receive Federal Head Start funding

Sites that receive funding from school readiness are required to meet the staffing requirements for state-funded programs.