A new report (PDF) from the US Department of Education says many states aren’t meeting their need for pre-kindergarten, with more than 80 percent of 4-year-olds not enrolled in a state-funded pre-K program in 13 states:
|
|
“While both states and the federal government invest in early learning, these efforts have fallen short of what is needed to ensure that all children can access a high-quality early education that will prepare them for success,” write the authors.
Some states, on the other hand, have provided pre-K for the majority of their 4-year-olds. Florida leads this list, with about 78 percent of 4-year-olds in the state enrolled in pre-K at state schools. Oklahoma comes in second place, with 74 percent enrolled, and Vermont in third with 71 percent.
Illinois got a special mention in the report for the way it used its Preschool Development and Early Learning Challenge Grant.
Illinois has received strong support for its early learning initiative from Governor Bruce Rauner. Through its Early Learning Challenge grant, Illinois dramatically increased the number of teachers graduating from credentialed programs. The state also is working to develop an integrated early childhood data system across all programs that is linked with the state’s K-12 Longitudinal Data System to better support student success. Through its Preschool Development Grant, Illinois plans to expand high-quality preschool in 19 communities, where approximately 45 percent of children from low-income families live. Illinois will contribute $128 million in state funds over four years, matching its grant by 150 percent, and serving more than 30,000 additional children in high-quality settings by 2018. Even with this robust investment, the state will still reach less than 50 percent of its 4-year-olds.
Education and community leaders have touted the benefits of pre-K for several years now. In March 2014, Voxitatis reported on the expansion of pre-K in Maryland. That same month, officials in Pennsylvania reported that only about 18 percent of the state’s 3- and 4-year-olds were benefiting from pre-K, according to a report entitled “A Smart Choice for a Solid Start: The Case for Pre-k in PA,” written by the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.
“The sooner high-quality pre-K is made available to more Pennsylvania children, the sooner we can see the increased benefits to our children, our communities, and the commonwealth,” the Education Letter quoted PPC President and CEO Joan Benso as saying. “Investing in our young learners is a smart and necessary step toward building a stronger Pennsylvania.”
It’s not easy to find non-support for pre-K in the literature, as most people find benefits to giving young students a jump start on school.
The new report called on former Procter & Gamble CEO John Pepper: “Early childhood development is the compelling economic, social, and moral issue of our time,” he said. “It helps provide all children with the opportunities they deserve to develop their natural abilities. It is also the most effective way to build the workforce … we need. Investing in young children’s healthy development is a financial and social imperative for any country.”
Elusive as non-support may be, though, there’s still some out there. So, pre-K isn’t all about smiling faces. Some even see a negative in terms of the economic prognosis of kids who benefit from state-funded pre-K programs.
“While it is tempting to believe government-funded pre-K will help families and single parents, the long, sad legacy of most government programs is that they keep people poor, destroy families, and harm the very children they were intended to help,” the Commercial Appeal in Memphis quoted Forest Thigpen of the conservative think tank Mississippi Center for Public Policy as saying in February 2013.
The naysayers, though, are usually people who hold traditional beliefs that early education is best provided by families.
For the overwhelming majority of educators and in a substantial and growing body of research, pre-K is seen as benefiting the children who attend, at least in terms of their academic progress as measured by standardized tests.
In Tupelo, Miss., which had used federal funds to pay for pre-K for more than 20 years, more than half the African-American graduates of the early learning program scored proficient in reading when they got to third grade, the Commercial Appeal noted in that same article. That was a 20-percent higher proficiency rate than shown by students who didn’t attend pre-K.
And it doesn’t just affect school performance. Research by James Heckman at the University of Chicago and others shows that high-quality pre-k can lead to lower dropout rates, higher incomes, and reduced crime rates.
Maryland Gov Larry Hogan, like Mr Thigpen, is a conservative. But he said in a gubernatorial debate with Lt Gov Anthony Brown that he was a “big proponent” of pre-K. He just wanted to make sure the state could pay for all the programs it promises families.
“We currently expanded pre-K to people that make 300 percent of the poverty level—so, $73,000 per year,” he said. “What the lieutenant governor’s talking about is expanding it to pay for everybody in the entire state, but he doesn’t really have a plan about how to accomplish that. And he’s not talking about how to pay for it.”
Several years ago, Illinois passed a law that did just that when then-Gov Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, before his troubles and imprisonment, signed the “Preschool for All” initiative into law in August 2006. This established Illinois as the first state to make all 3- and 4-year-olds eligible for state-funded pre-K.
“Gov Blagojevich has proven yet again that pre-K plays a vital role in his forward-thinking leadership strategy for Illinois,” Libby Doggett, PhD, executive director of Pre-K Now, was quoted as saying. “For him, pre-K is not simply a children’s issue; the governor’s commitment to pre-K for every 3- and 4-year-old demonstrates his commitment to the future of Illinois.”
Unfortunately, Illinois couldn’t find the money either, and only about 27 percent of Illinois’s 4-year-olds today are enrolled in a state-funded pre-K program, according to the new US Education Department report.
Mr Hogan’s two big education proposals in this, his first year as governor of Maryland, deal with amending the state’s charter school laws and providing a tax credit for people who contribute to private schools. Neither one targets pre-K education in the state, despite Mr Hogan’s professed support for pre-K in general. However, the tax credit proposal, if it gets anywhere, might enhance the attractiveness of business and non-profit donations to eligible K-12 or pre-K programs in the state.
“Maryland has one of the best education systems in the country, but the gap between good schools and underachieving schools is among the worst,” Mr Hogan said in a press release. “Our legislation represents a much needed new direction in Maryland’s education system.”
When governors talk about new directions, pre-K probably isn’t in the forefront of their minds. It needs to be, though. In January 2014, Voxitatis reported on President Barack Obama’s remarks about pre-K in a State of the Union address.