The Bellevue School District has received funding for an additional 60 state-funded preschool slots for the 2015-2016 school year for low-income children.

“I’ve lived in Bellevue for over 34 years, and there has never been a time when the school district has been granted this amount of financial resource, to support broad access to tuition-free district preschool,” Deborah Duitch, the director of early learning and after-school for the Bellevue School District, said in a statement.

The district was awarded 60 ECEAP preschool slots for low-income 4 year olds, as well as receiving funding for 151 Head Start and 20 Bellevue School Foundation funded slots.

Altogether, 231 low-income 3 and 4-year olds will be able to attend preschool in Bellevue this fall, tuition-free. It is a 26 percent increase over last year, in which there were just 171 tuition-free spots in the district. Twenty of hose spots were ECEAP-funded, and 151 received federal Head Start funding.

A full (school)day program in a Bellevue School District preschool is $860 per month. An extended day program ranges from $1,130 to $1,150 per month.

“Achievement gaps start early, and although nationally and locally pre-kindergarten enrollment has been growing recently, low-income children participate at lower rates than children from higher-income families,” said Duitch. “High quality, public provided preschool education has been found to produce improved knowledge and skills. The effects tend to be largest for children at the lowest income levels.”

An inability to access early education has been shown to affect children’s academic success in the long and the short run, Duitch added.

The majority of 3 and 4-year-old siblings of currently district students who qualify for free lunch will be eligible for the spots. Many young siblings of students who qualify for reduced lunch will also meet the income eligibility requirements.

Ardmore Elementary School will receive the most tuition-free preschool slots, with 46 Head Start spots and 40 ECEAP funded spots. Lake Hills and Phantom Lake will both have 38 Head Start spots, and the former will also house 20 ECEAP slots. Stevenson Elementary will have 29 Head Start slots.

Duitch is currently working with Transportation to add buses on the transportation of students to the Ardmore and Phantom Lake classrooms from the Sherwood Forest attendance area.