Welcome to Pre-K Now's "Votes Count" report, which reviews fiscal year 2011 funding and legislative action on publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Despite persistent budget shortfalls, the majority of state legislatures have once again made the prudent decision to protect pre-k programs. While a number of states made disappointing choices to cut or even eliminate early education funding, in most cases, lawmakers opted to maintain or increase investments and to better integrate pre-k into their school systems. These leaders set clear priorities and made tough choices to do the right thing for children and for state budgets.

This November, voters elected a record 28 new governors and more than 1,600 new state lawmakers, nationally. With more difficult decisions ahead, will these newly elected policy makers sustain smart investments in early education and provide our nation's young children — and our future workforce — with a strong foundation, or will they ignore the evidence? Nationwide, pre-k is at a crossroads.

• $5.4 billion in total state funding will support pre-k programs in FY11, an increase of just more than 1 percent over the prior year.
  
  

• 15 states and the District of Columbia increased their pre-k funding - either through appropriations or through their school funding formulas - by more than $106 million.
  
  

• 4 other states also include pre-k in their school funding formulas but are not able to provide any projections for FY11 at press time.
  
  

• 11 states flat funded their pre-k budgets.
  
  

• 10 states decreased their pre-k funding by approximately $32 million.
  
  

• 10 states do not have state pre-k programs.