Rural Early Education Access Act
Rural Early Education Access Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to award renewable five-year matching grants to states and, through them, subgrants to rural preschool providers.
Requires subgrantees to: (1) have no more than 20 students per class and a student-to-teacher ratio of at least 10 to 1; (2) adhere to comprehensive early learning standards; and (3) provide at least one highly nutritious meal for each child for every 3 hours of participation per day and at least one highly nutritious snack for each child participating up to 3 hours per day.
Requires rural preschool providers to use the subgrants to: (1) provide one highly competent assistant teacher for each class of more than 10 children; (2) make at least 15 hours of high-quality teacher training available to each teacher per school year; (3) make health screening and referral services available to their students; (4) acquire the resources and staff needed to serve disabled and limited English proficient children; or (5) coordinate with local educational agencies.
Sets forth allowable uses of subgrant funds.
Lowers the matching requirement for state grantees whose rural preschool providers meet additional requirements to: (1) provide an assistant teacher with an associate's degree in early childhood education or a child development associate's credential in every classroom of more than 10 children; and (2) adopt a plan for requiring that, within 5 years, all their lead teachers hold a bachelor's degree in early childhood education or in a related field with specialized training in early childhood education.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.