By Del Stover
7/12/05 -- Despite the political rhetoric about the value of preschool education -- and how it is a solid investment in the nation’s future -- progress in expanding high-quality preschool programs has been limited.
At the state level, Tennessee and Illinois have made some strides in expanding state-supported programs in recent years. But Ohio has seen its state-run program shrink by two-thirds, and early promises of universal preschool in Florida and New York state are falling short of the mark.
“The state commitment has been, in some states, more tenuous than in others,” says Adele Robinson, senior director of public policy and communications for the National Association for the Education of Young Children. “It’s not grown much in many states, and like with all things, we need to make sure the actions are matching the rhetoric.”
At the federal level, legislation to reauthorize Head Start has been under consideration for more than two years, but there appears to be insufficient support for expanding it.
It’s not just that state and federal budgets are tight; it’s that the cost to bring preschool up to scale is high -- between $25 billion to $35 billion nationwide, according to the Committee on Economic Development, a Washington, D.C., research group.
Some policymakers are at least trying to make progress. In Illinois, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich has boosted state preschool spending by 50 percent -- or $90 million -- over the past three years. That’s enough to serve an additional 25,000 children.
In Tennessee, Gov. Phil Bredesen recently signed legislation allocating $25 million in lottery proceeds to preschool education. The money will expand the state-funded program by 6,000 -- the first step in what Bredesen hopes will be the establishment of a universal preK program.
At the local level, numerous school systems have worked to expand programs as funding allows. In San Francisco, preK advocates won voter approval for a tax hike that will provide $3.3 million for preschool programs. By 2010, the goal is for all 4-year-olds to have access to preschool.
Fueling these efforts is a large body of research that shows funds spent on preschool -- particularly for disadvantaged children -- more than pays for itself in the long run. If children are ready for school, studies show, they are more likely to do well in school, go to college, get higher-paying jobs, and pay more taxes, and are less likely to end up on welfare or in prison.
Over the years, 40 states have launched preschool programs, and this year, 19 governors proposed increasing spending on such programs.
Georgia and Oklahoma provide preschool to all 4-year-olds whose parents want it, and New Jersey’s program serves 42,000 of the state’s poorest 3 and 4-year-olds. tlorida just launched a statewide program, and West Virginia passed a law pledging universal preschool in a decade.
Next summer, Californians will have a chance to vote on a ballot initiative that would raise $2.3 billion to fund part-time preschools for 4-year-olds. It’s predicted the measure would boost preschool enrollment from today’s 47 percent to nearly 70 percent of the state’s 500,000 eligible children.
And in Iowa, Gov. Tom Vilsac earlier this year asked the state legislature to commit $39 million to begin the process of expanding day-care to 90 percent of the state’s 4-year-olds. State lawmakers approved $22 million.
Some preschool advocates, however, warn that expanding programs isn’t -- in and of itself -- necessarily the best strategy. Quality is as important as quantity.
Nowhere is that more clear than in Florida, where voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2002 guaranteeing “high-quality” universal preschool. This year, the state legislature disappointed preK advocates by providing an average of $2,500 per child -- only about one-third of what the federal government provides for Head Start.
With such low funding levels, critics questioned whether any serious program could be put in place. Some noted that, with funding limiting preschool to three hours a day, low-income and working parents would be challenged to arrange child care for the rest of the day.
New York also has seen earlier dreams of universal preschool falter. After talk of putting $500 million into preK programs by 2001, Gov. George Pataki tried to cut funding a few years ago, and funding now is stalled at just above $200 million. Some estimates suggest the state would need to increase funding six-fold to enroll most of the state’s 4-year-olds.
With limited funding, many preschool programs are struggling to balance quality and quantity. A study by the National Institute for Early Education Research found a “startling” disparity in the availability and quality of preschool programs nationwide. Based on a list of 10 benchmarks of quality, including spending, curriculum, teaching degrees, and staff-child ratios, only Arkansas met all 10. Twenty states met five or fewer benchmarks.
The issue of quality also has arisen in Congress, where proposed Head Start legislation would require a greater number of Head Start teachers to have degrees and training in early childhood development. But the legislation would not boost funding.
“As it stands now, Head Start programs pay teachers with bachelor degrees only about half what they make in the public school system,” says Sarah M. Greene, president of the National Head Start Association. “This wide disparity is an enormous obstacle to improving and sustaining quality in Head Start.”