St. Louis ? More military families across the country will have access to the Parents as Teachers childhood education program with $1 million in federal funding announced Friday for its expansion.

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., made the announcement at the Parents as Teachers headquarters in St. Louis. The program serves parents from pregnancy until their child enters kindergarten.

Currently, four installations operate Bond’s Parents as Teachers spinoff called Heroes at Home – Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, and Fort Hood, Texas.

The money, which was secured in the 2006 defense appropriations bill, will enhance those already in place and fund five more at bases across the country. Fort Bragg, N.C., Fort Stewart, Ga., Fort Campbell, Ky., Fort Lewis, Wash., and Fort Wainwright, Alaska, will all be part of the pilot.

Parents as Teachers was founded in 1987 and now has 3,000 programs in all 50 states and abroad.