JUNCTION CITY (KSNT) – A community gathered Thursday morning as the Geary County School District celebrated the opening of its new Early Childhood Development Center in Junction City.
District leaders, local officials and community members attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new facility, which features 32 classrooms and has the capacity to serve up to 800 students at a time.
School district officials said the center is designed to provide affordable early childhood education while also supporting working families and parents pursuing higher education.
Superintendent Reginald Eggleston said the district’s goal is to help families who may be struggling financially or academically by giving children access to early learning opportunities in a safe environment.
“What we’ve been trying to do is reach the needs of those who may struggle in some ways financially… academically,” Eggleston said. “This facility and program does both. Mom, dad, can both go to college, get a job, and know that their son or daughter is in a safe place, getting the exposure that they need.”
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According to Eggleston, the project costs approximately $25 million to complete which was around $5 million under the district’s original budget. Much of the funding for the project came from the federal government.
Eggleston said district leaders were proud to showcase the facility in front of local officials and visitors from Washington, D.C., and highlighting what he described as responsible use of taxpayer dollars.
“It gets them an opportunity to see that we are good stewards of resources that we have,” Eggleston said. “These dollars that we just talked about, we were able to reduce, we’ll be able to use for other projects across the district.”
Among those attending the event was Senator Roger Marshall, who spoke about the long-term importance of investing in early childhood education.
“If a child starts off kindergarten or first grade behind, they really struggle to ever catch up,” Marshall said. “As an obstetrician delivering thousands of babies, I know the earlier we get all those synapses working, the more success that child is going to have later in life as well.”
More information about the new Early Childhood Development Center can be found on the district’s website at USD 475.
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