DES MOINES, IOWA (AP) -- Gov. Chet Culver says 53 more school districts will receive grants to offer preschool programs in a continuing effort to enroll 90 percent of Iowa's 4-year-olds.
The $11.5 million for the expanded preschool efforts was included in a measure Culver signed earlier this week. The addition brings the program's total annual cost to about $100 million.
With the additional programs, state education officials project that during the upcoming school year nearly 13,000 4-year-olds will be enrolled in preschool program in 172 districts.
Culver began pushing for expansion of preschool programs in 2007, when fewer than 5 percent of 4-year-olds were enrolled in such state-supported programs.
He made the announcement Thursday at a downtown Des Moines school.
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