Every year, as part of our review of governors' actions on high-quality early education, Pre-K Now identifies the emergent themes and provides in-depth analysis of the gubernatorial recommendations that best illustrate them. These detailed stories offer greater insight into the fiscal and political climate surrounding publicly funded pre-k.
In addition, each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia has a profile page featuring its executive's budget proposals.
In addition, each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia has a profile page featuring their executives’ budget proposals.
Pre-K Funding Sustainability
This year's pre-k proposals shine a bright light on the need for states to identify secure and adequate funding sources for their programs. In many states, even as primary and secondary grades are protected from cuts, pre-k is funded by annual appropriations and remains vulnerable. By recommending inclusion of early learning in more sustainable financing sources, such as the state school funding formulas, governors could help to better integrate these programs into the education system and ensure they are not subject to political or fiscal shifts.
In these four states, the governors' proposals illustrate the benefits of providing sustainable funding for pre-k as well as the pitfalls associated with not doing so:
Around the country, governors are increasingly embracing the research that shows high-quality pre-k is as important to children's learning as kindergarten or first grade. The impact of early learning programs on school success is well documented, and as these leaders seek to improve school performance, they are looking to pre-k as the logical first step. Of course, not all governors have heard the message of pre-k, and in their states, children and schools may fall behind as a result.
These four states demonstrate the value of integrating pre-k into the larger system of education and the vulnerability early learning programs face when they remain isolated from the broader school reform agenda:
When times are tough, states need to recognize the threat and act to protect policy priorities that have the greatest return on investment. For pre-k champions dealing with economic downturns, this means recommending flat funding for programs to ensure a stable level of service. Where pre-k funding is sharply decreased, however, those states risk their own future economic growth.
These two states particularly demonstrate the benefits of prioritizing early educational programs versus opting for deep cuts to such programs:
Protecting and even expanding high-quality pre-k is easier when programs have a history of robust bipartisan support. Where both Republican and Democratic governors have championed early learning, the educational and economic evidence base behind pre-k has been instrumental in transcending partisanship. In such states, governors of both parties have provided the kind of leadership our nation needs to build critical foundations for children and families, for greater economic competitiveness and for effective, bipartisan policy-making.
These two states exemplify the best tradition of bipartisan pre-k support:
High-quality pre-k is the first step to education reform. As such, it is the natural starting point for the Obama administration's school improvement agenda. The best strategy for expanding access to high-quality early learning within the context of broader school reform is inclusion of a dedicated funding stream, which supports and provides incentives for greater state investment in pre-k as part of the reauthorization of the nation's main education law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The administration's proposals for early learning have provided short-term, temporary support but have yet to fully embrace this proven policy:
, and as these leaders seek to improve school performance, they are looking to pre-k as the logical first step. Of course, not all governors have heard the message of pre-k, and in their states, children and schools may fall behind as a result.
Overview
Themes