Official Site of The State of New Jersey

The Fiscal Year 2023 annual appropriations act includes a $120 million allocation of Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund (SFRF) dollars that were established pursuant to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) for the expansion of preschool facilities. Applications are now available in Electronic Web Enabled Grants (EWEG) System in the NJDOE Homeroom portal. To gain access to this grant application within the EWEG system please email eweghelp@doe.nj.gov requesting the “UPK Facilities Grant Application”.

Preschool Expansion Projects Open Application Period is May 1, 2024 to June 3, 2024.

A complete project application, including all attachments, must be received by the NJDOE via the EWEG System by 5 p.m. on June 3, 2024, to be considered for grant funding. It is recommended that districts submit their application prior to this deadline as the EWEG system will not allow proposals to be submitted after the above established deadline.

Eligibility

Under the Preschool Facilities Expansion program, regular operating districts (ROD) are eligible to receive at a minimum 40 percent of approved eligible project costs. The funding percentage for a grant is based upon each district’s District Aid Percentage (DAP) multiplied by the eligible project costs established by New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE). Districts must be able to demonstrate local matching funds for the balance of the project costs.

Approvable projects would be limited to those that expand a current educational facility (adding preschool classrooms/seats) and renovations of existing facilities with limitations. Specifically, these will only be allowed if the district can demonstrate sufficient capacity for other grades and that the renovation would result in a net increase in available preschool seats.

FAQs

NJ Federally Funded Construction Activities Requirements - UPK Facilities

Questions can be directed to the Office of School Facilities at 609-376-9073 or the Office of Early Childhood 609-376-9077.