The annual political action report from the universal preschool advocacy group Pre-K Now shows spending continuing to rise. The group reports that 36 states have committed an additional $528 million annually to expanding UPK. That brings state spending to $4.8 billion nationally for FY 2008. Only one state plans to cut spending. Which one? Florida. The state was already known for having the stingiest per-pupil spending in the country and for the low-quality of its program. Perhaps because of the low-quality, enrollment in the program was less than expected. So, the state Legislature can brag about raising per pupil spending by $117 while cutting overall spending by $14 million. (That's actually something to be proud of. Some of the states that have gotten credit for increasing pre-k spending in recent years have seen enrollment increases that diluted the effects of the increase and actually reduced per-pupil spending.) If the state keeps quality low enough, no children will participate and the state can really save some dough. By the way, the Agency for Workforce Innovation is the state agency that operates public preschool in Florida. The news release can be found here.