Christian County school district selected for $937K grant

Through the Missouri Start Smart initiative, the state Department of Economic Development selected the Chadwick R-1 School District for a $937,000 grant.

In Gov. Jay Nixon's visit of the Christian County district yesterday, he said the Start Smart initiative, designed to expand early childhood education opportunities, was returning for a second year, according to a news release.

Chadwick Superintendent Dana Comstock welcomed the donation, which will be facilitated through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.

“Currently, our district does not have an early childhood education program, so Missouri Smart Start is a tremendous opportunity for our district to help get kids ready for school,” Comstock said in the release. “With these resources, our district is taking a significant step that will benefit these children for a lifetime.”

The Chadwick district is slated to use the Community Development Block Grant funding to construct a 5,000-square-foot prekindergarten facility to serve 45 children.

“Over the past few years, we’ve worked together to give thousands more children access to quality preschool programs, but there is still a lot of work to do,” Nixon said in the release. “That’s why we put this competitive process in place to help communities make strategic, targeted investments in expanding early childhood educational opportunities for their kids and boosting economic opportunities for their workers.”

Yesterday, Nixon also visited the El Dorado Springs School District to announce the system would receive a $988,275 grant through the Missouri Start Smart initiative.

Educators elsewhere have been less impressed with the governor.

In June, Nixon took executive action he said was necessary to ensure a balanced budget. The move shaved nearly $276 million in line-item vetoes from the state’s overall budget and $846 million in temporary withholdings - including funding increases to public education - which some educators and business groups called political posturing in advance of September's veto session, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.