Hawaii has won a $14.8 million multiyear federal grant to launch public preschool programs at charter schools statewide.

The federal government is funding the first year — $2.07 million — of a four-year plan that would eventually serve 920 children from low-income families.

Hawaii was one of 18 states awarded a total of $226 million under the federal Preschool Development Grants program to increase access to high-quality preschool, the U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday.

"Expanding access to high-quality preschool is critically important to ensure the success of our children in school and beyond," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement. "These states are demonstrating a strong commitment to building and enhancing early learning systems, closing equity gaps and expanding opportunity so that more children in America can fulfill their greatest potential."

Preschool in the islands has historically been provided by community-based organizations funded with philanthropic and federal support. About half of the state’s schoolchildren enter kindergarten without a preschool education.

The state for the first time last year designated public funds — $3 million — for preschool education, establishing pre-kindergarten classes at 18 public schools to serve about 420 students. But the state’s 34 charter schools were not included in the program.

The state Public Charter School Commission applied for the funding to establish 18 new preschool classrooms over four years, starting with the 2015-16 school year.

"This is a very, very exciting development," said commission Executive Director Tom Hutton.

The initial funding will be used to set up one classroom each at four Hawaii island charter schools: Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School, Na Wai Ola Public Charter School, Kua o ka La New Century Public Charter School and Kona Pacific Public Charter School.

"We were strategic in focusing on schools that were serving communities where there is a great deal of need and not many options for pre-kindergarten," Hutton said.

Under the grant guidelines, participating students must come from families earning 200 percent below the federal poverty line, which this year is set at $27,430 for a family of four in Hawaii.

The award also comes with requirements to ensure quality.

"The feds have real expectations about what kind of program you put in place," Hutton said. "This is intended to fund high-quality programs, so there are a lot of requirements about the professional quality of staff, the professional development that they take."

Hawaii P-20, a statewide educational coalition, will be a subgrantee and provide professional development and other support.