2010 Will Be a Tough Year for Pre-K in Many States

Tight State Budgets Threaten Preschool Progress

No doubt, the sour economy has had an effect on many things--from belt tightening and bailouts to stay-at-home vacations and stimulus packages. When it comes to state budgets, preschool education is one of many areas where the funding progress seen in recent years has taken a considerable blow. According to Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2010, a report from Pre-K Now, total state spending for FY 2010 will be $5.3 billion, about one percent higher than in 2009. Beyond the national total, however, lie serious setbacks.

Even though revenues had been decreasing for some time, most states had been holding the line when it comes to pre-K funding. In June 2009, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) reported that $651 million in new money for early care and education was allocated by states in FY 2009, despite budget shortfalls and revenue declines. However, the mood shifted in a number of states when finances deteriorated even further and governors and lawmakers found themselves making tougher choices than they ever imagined they would when crafting FY 2010 budgets. Even though states took advantage of federal stimulus funds to soften budget cuts, education, including state pre-K, took cuts, received no funding increases, or saw small increases with planned expansions scaled back.

Ten states, many with well-established programs, decreased funding from FY 2009 levels: Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Washington. The rust-belt states were particularly hard hit. Ohio eliminated the Early Learning Initiative, its higher quality program launched in 2005 to raise school readiness through provision of full-day, year-round pre-K for children of working families. Illinois, which made national headlines in recent years for its aggressive pursuit of preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds, cut funding by 10 percent but then saw more than half of the cut restored by the governor. Michigan cut state pre-K by 7 percent and added a provision to the budget enabling school districts to use their state pre-K funds to make up for cuts in K-12 education. As a result, experts there predict pre-K enrollments will decline more than 7 percent.

Six states left pre-K funding at essentially the same levels as 2009: Delaware, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Even though flat funding exposes programs to reductions in resources due to inflation, many leaders regard preservation of the 2009 funding levels as a political victory in such difficult times. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and the state legislature remained in negotiations more than 100 days after budget deadline in order to get a budget that didn't cut funding for the Pre-K Counts program. Delays in crafting budgets in Pennsylvania and Michigan forced parents of children in state-funded preschool programs to scramble to find alternate schooling or child care arrangements when some programs didn't start up due to lack of funding.

The federal stimulus program played a key role in a number of states. Florida, facing a budget shortfall of more than 27 percent, used stimulus dollars to increase its Voluntary Prekindergarten funding by more than 4 percent and serve more children. However, per-child spending there decreased for FY 2010.

While all the news is not bleak--Pre-K Now reports that 23 states increased funding for state pre-K--there were states where planned expansions have been on hold. The first phase of New Jersey's planned expansion of state-funded preschool was cut from the budget. In Texas, the governor vetoed legislation that would have set new quality standards for pre-K, including teacher training and class-size limits (See page 9).

NIEER Co-Director Steve Barnett notes that some states responded to budget shortfalls by reducing funding per child and supports for quality, like professional development. "Legislators in North Carolina sought to dismantle the state's top quality More at Four program and replace it with child care. Until the public and their elected officials insist on treating pre-K like real education, as they do in states like Oklahoma and West Virginia, legislators will continue to tell young children, 'Sorry you can't go to school this year because we don't have the money,'" he says. "That is inconceivable for kindergarten or third grade. It doesn't make sense for pre-K either."