Annual Survey
Finds High-Quality State Preschool Programs Are the Exception, Not the
Rule
National Institute for
Early Education Research, November 22, 2004
The second annual survey of state preschool programs found a huge
disparity in availability from state to state and even within state
boundaries. The report concludes that "across our nation, high-quality and
readily available state-funded preschool programs are the exception rather
than the rule."
The State of Preschool: 2004 State Preschool Yearbook reports that
nationally, total enrollment of 3- and 4-year-olds in state-funded
programs rose in the past school year, but spending per preschool student
fell. Twenty-one states actually cut funding to preschool programs. Twelve
states had no state-financed programs at all.
The Yearbook is a project of the National Institute for Early Education
Research (NIEER), established by The Pew Charitable Trusts to support
early childhood education initiatives by providing objective, nonpartisan
research-based information. Covering the school year 2002-2003, the report
cited research showing that children from disadvantaged families who
attend high-quality pre-school programs acquire more education, earn more
money, commit fewer crimes and become more responsible citizens than
children from similar families who do not attend high-quality preschool.
This leads to a better-educated, more productive workforce, enhancing the
ability of states and communities to sustain economic growth and compete
in the global marketplace, according to the research.
"The instability of funding is particularly disturbing — and unwise, given
that few other state expenditures are so important to our children's
future or return so much on the state's investment," said NIEER director
W. Steven Barnett of Rutgers University. "There would be public outcry
were such cuts levied on kindergarten or first grade. The education of
younger children is no less deserving of protection from the year-to-year
swings in the economy."
The costs of high-quality prekindergarten "are modest relative to overall
state budgets," the Yearbook reported. "If states simply paid for the same
share of preschool education that they do for K–12, the added cost would
be just a bit more than one penny per dollar of overall state spending."
NIEER recommended that states increase funding to improve access to and
quality of their programs and that the federal government increase its
investment in prekindergarten by offering to match state government
spending that is accompanied by high standards.
The Yearbook dealt at length with the wide disparities that exist, not
only in the availability of preschool programs, but also in their quality.
"The state preschool picture across the United States is one of haves and
have-nots, with notable regional differences," the Yearbook said. "The
access to a good education depends on where a child lives and the income
of the family. Parents looking for a state where state-funded preschool is
open to all families will find only two states [Georgia and Oklahoma] from
which to choose."
As to quality, the survey found only 13 state programs that required
teachers to have a BA degree and specialized training in preschool
education.
On the positive side, the survey found that New Jersey, North Carolina,
and Louisiana increased funding substantially. In terms of access,
Louisiana, Kansas, and North Carolina made noteworthy gains.
The wide-ranging analyses and commentary accompanying the state-by-state
data challenged some widely held assumptions and raised provocative
issues, for instance:
Families in the western states have less access to prekindergarten
programs for their children than families in the rest of the country.
Families with incomes just below the national average ($40,000-$50,000)
have less access to high-quality preschool than poorer or wealthier
families. The wealthy families can afford good private programs. Poorer
families are more likely to have access to targeted government-funded
programs — though, because of inadequate funding and difficulty in
identifying eligible families, almost half of poor children do not benefit
from such programs.
Targeted programs such as federal Head Start often fail to enroll all
children living in poverty. The report recommends that "more states should
follow the lead of Georgia and Oklahoma to expand access for all children
and at the same time ensure that children with the greatest needs are
included in prekindergarten and receive the services necessary to fully
support their learning and development."
Better education for their children is the primary factor that motivates
parents to seek high quality prekindergarten programs, not the need for
child care so the parents can work.
The Yearbook concentrates on state-financed prekindergarten programs and
not federal Head Start or private programs receiving no state funding. It
lists a "dirty dozen" states with no state-funded prekindergarten
programs. They are Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana,
New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
More than 900,000 children ages 3 and 4 live in those states.
The 38 states with preschool initiatives were ranked on access to and
resources committed to preschool education. Quality was measured against
10 research-based benchmarks. The major findings were:
ACCESS
Thirty-eight states funded one or more state prekindergarten initiatives,
serving a total of nearly 740,000 children (about 45,000 more than the
previous year).
Georgia and Oklahoma continued to be the only states that made
prekindergarten universally available to children. Across the United
States, only one out of 10 children ages 3 and 4 was participating in
state preschool programs, as most states targeted programs to serve
economically or otherwise disadvantaged children.
Twenty states enrolled at least 10 percent of their 4-year-olds in state
preschool programs. There is considerably less emphasis on state-funded
prekindergarten for 3-year-olds — a fact borne out by the fact that only 3
states served 10 percent or more of their 3-year-olds.
Half the states had increases in enrollments in 2003. The biggest gains,
exceeding 50 percent, occurred in Nebraska, Nevada and North Carolina.
Among the biggest losses were a 50 percent drop in New Mexico and ten
percent drop in Massachusetts.
QUALITY
Only one state, Arkansas, met all ten of NIEER's quality benchmarks.
Initiatives in Illinois, North Carolina and New Jersey's Abbott program
met nine of the 10 benchmarks. Twenty state initiatives met five or fewer
of the 10 benchmarks.
Only 13 state prekindergarten initiatives required teachers to have both a
bachelor's degree and specialized training in early childhood education.
In addition, only 13 programs required preschool teachers to be paid
comparably to public school teachers for older children, even though
adequate compensation is necessary for attracting and retaining the most
qualified and effective teachers.
RESOURCES
State funding for prekindergarten initiatives totaled $2.54 billion. Over
three-fifths of this funding was from five states—California, Georgia, New
Jersey, New York, and Texas.
Compared to the previous year, total state spending (adjusted for
inflation) rose by $90 million, or 4 percent. However, state funding per
child enrolled decreased by $90.
State Spending per child enrolled in state-funded preschool ranged from
less than $1,000 in Maryland to more than $8,700 in New Jersey. State
spending per child averaged about $3,500, less than half the total funding
provided per child by federal Head Start or public K–12 education. Local
schools add an unknown, but likely significant, amount of resources.
Sixteen states increased preschool spending in 2002- 2003. The largest
increase was $110 million in New Jersey followed by $24 million in North
Carolina. Funding decreased in 21 states. The decrease exceeded ten
percent in Missouri, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, Ohio and Iowa.
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The National Institute for Early Education Research (www.nieer.org), a
unit of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, supports early childhood
education policy by providing objective, nonpartisan information based on
research. NIEER is supported through grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts
and others.
The Pew Charitable Trusts (www.pewtrusts.org) serve the public interest by
providing information, policy solutions and support for civic life. Based
in Philadelphia, with an office in Washington, D.C., the Trusts make
investments to provide organizations and citizens with fact-based research
and practical solutions for challenging issues. With approximately $4.1
billion in dedicated assets, in 2003 the Trusts committed more than $143
million to 151 nonprofit organizations.
