Early childhood programs in MCPS are targeted to children and families affected by poverty, including children with disabilities, and provides them with additional time to acquire literacy, mathematics, and social/emotional skills for success in school and later learning in life. These programs provide opportunities for children to build school-readiness skills by increasing social interactions, building oral language skills, and fostering vocabulary development. In MCPS, 65 elementary schools have locally funded Prekindergarten and/or federally funded Head Start classes. MCPS has two regional early childhood centers, one at the MacDonald Knolls Early Childhood Center in Silver Spring, serving 100 Prekindergarten students and the other at the Up-county Early Childhood Center, temporarily housed at the Emory Grove holding facility in Gaithersburg, serving 80 Prekindergarten students. This project will provide funding for MCPS to construct a stand alone building for the Up-county center, as well as begin planning to further expand early childhood centers throughout the county. An FY 2023 appropriation was approved for planning funds. An FY 2024 appropriation was approved for construction funds to build the stand alone Upcounty Center. An FY 2025 appropriation was approved for construction cost increases to construct a stand alone facility, as well as to address facility modifications at the former Parkside ES, as well as the existing Burtonsville ES, once that school is relocated to its new facility and site. As MCPS finalizes its Early Childhood Center expansion plan to align with the goals set in the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, the Board's FY 2026 Request and County Council's action was to reallocate $36.5 million to other projects. This reallocation maintains funding for an east county early childhood center at the existing Burtonsville Elementary School. The scheduled completion date for the Burtonsville Elementary School replacement project is August 2026. The Upcounty Early Childhood Center is expected to remain at Emory Grove Center, with planning funds being requested in FY 2030.