The Southern Education Foundation, headed up by Lynn Huntley , an ES (EarlyStories) education hero, came out strongly in favor of universal pre-kindergarten in Mississippi on Monday. This report is one of a series the Foundation is doing on what it will take to improve education in the South. Mississippi has the highest poverty rate in the nation and stands 49th in per-capita income. According to the SEF, over half the difference in average income between Mississippi and the U.S. as a whole can be explained by the low levels of education in the state. Oh, by the way, Mississippi is the only southern state that spends none of its own public money on pre-kindergarten. (Census data shows, however, that about 52% of Mississippi's 3- and 4-year-olds are in some sort of "school," which ranks the state 14th by that measure.) Still, nearly 10% of Mississippi first graders were held back this year. That's evidence, according to the "Miles To Go Mississippi" report that children are entering school unprepared. The state's education department is asking the Legislature for $10 million to launch a pre-K pilot program. But Republican Gov. Haley Barbour is opposed. He's willing to start a program to give parents advice. But, as the Associated Press reported here, he said recently that "I don’t see us in Mississippi having a statewide, 4-year-old, state-funded pre-kindergarten program anytime in the near future.”

Pleased to see this report got attention from several television stations and the newspapers in Biloxi and Jackson carried the AP story. By the way, journalists who cover education in the South should know that the SEF is a terrific resource for them.

The schools in Fort Smith, Arkansas are facing an enrollment boom, which has led officials to put together an ambitious building program. At the same time, Supt. Benny Gooden wants to expand the district's pre-kindergarten program. The coverage in the Fort Smith paper notes that "while a pre-K program is not mandated, various studies have shown that children entering kindergarten benefit from a pre-K program especially if they are behind developmentally and socially." I was glad to see the story report the need for pre-K as well as the space crunch more classes creates. I would have liked to ask Mr. Gooden whether the district might not be able to find a way to make use of existing high-quality pre-k programs, already up and running.

By the way, Amy Sherrill, who wrote the article, was a recent attendee at a seminar the Hechinger Institute and the Education Writers Assn. put on in Atlanta for journalists in the south. Pre-K was one of the topics. Benny Gooden was a speaker.

Veteran Hartford Courant education writer Bob Frahm reports on the recommendation of a state-level study group to spend $100 million to expand children's services, including preschool classes, to make the state "a national model for early childhood education." The goal is to more than double the number of low-income children in preschool classes, train more preschool teachers and aides, and bolster the quality of preschool programs statewide, according to Frahm. The story notes the proposal will, as always, compete with other needs. "It really becomes a question of whether the people of the state of Connecticut are ready to pony up for this issue and raise taxes," state Sen. Toni Harp of New Haven notes.

What I missed in this story, though, was the sense that: 1. this is an issue very much on the frontburner in numerous states. A paragraph or so is all that would have been needed. and 2. any reference to the research on the effects of high-quality pre-k on poor kids. In other words, why is anyone suggesting spending hundreds of millions of dollars.

It did, however, include a legislator saying pre-kindergarten is important for preparing the workforce of tomorrow.

Washington Post uses the report of a committee on pre-kindergarten appointed by Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine to provide a good regional and national roundup of activity on the issue. When elected a year ago Kaine vowed to bring universal, voluntary pre-kindergarten to all four-year-olds in the state. But other issues, including highways, got in the way. The story notes that opposition is growing to what some legislators see as a subsidy for the middle class and one legislator even claimed that "frankly, there's no proof it works." Oddly enough, the legislator offering that confident, and misinformed, assertion was Majority Whip M. Kirkland Cox, a Republican who is a government teacher in Chesterfield County. If Mr. Cox didn't want to accept research widely available from places such as the National Institute on Early Education Research, he might consult this position statement from the American Federation of Teachers.

I don't think it would be advocacy for a story such as this to note that a number of studies have shown that high-quality pre-kindergarten does make a difference in kids' lives and that such programs provide a good return on investment, in terms of lowered social costs. Journalists shouldn't let legislators deny evidence, even if the implications of that evidence involve spending some dough.

Now comes a Wisconsin task force to say that the state is not doing enough to assess the outcomes of its state pre-school program for four-year olds. "There's no study or determination of whether we are getting for our dollars' worth and...whether or not four-year-old kindergarten is a cost-effective means by which we can educate our children," said the incoming Speaker of the Wisconsin House, Republican Representative Mike Huebsch. According to a report on WKBT television La Crosse, the task force wants monitoring of whether children are learning English, test scores, and whether state spending on special education is dropping. The broadcast quoted a pre-k center director who says, "I think the standards are important as guidelines but, it is very difficult in early childhood to say, 'You have to have a "C" or above average in whether you can tie your shoe or not."

Good way to show the limits of "assessing" four-year-olds. It would also be good for the story to have noted that Wisconsin spends about $4,200 a year on a half-day program, according to the National Institute of Early Education Research. (state profiles available here). That's not even half the amount the state spends per pupil on K-12 education and, though it seems paradoxical, high quality pre-k costs more, not less.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, which since 2001 has invested more than $50 million in its "Advancing Quality Pre-K For All" initiative, has put out a five-year status report on its progress. (Full disclosure: the Hechinger Institute, which I direct, has received two grants from the Pew Trusts to raise journalists' awareness and knowledge of pre-kindergarten and this blog is part of that work.) The report is notable for its frankness and offers a good sense of where the issue stands. The authors, Susan Urahn and Sara Watson, say the Trusts will continue to focus on increasing public investment in pre-kindergarten. But they also note that the Trusts and 11 other funders are pursuing research to "assess the contribution that different supports for young children make to the nation's economy." In other words, what other services do children need, and how can their impact on the economic well-being of the U.S. and its people be monitored and measured. That project is known as the "Partnership for America's Economic Success" and bears watching.

One other part of this memo that should be of particular interest to journalists is the list of criteria it offers for pre-k programs and for state pre-k policies. The list offers a good template for questions journalists should ask about efforts in the states they cover.

The transcript of last week's online Education Week chat with Sara Watson of the Pew Trusts (full disclosure: underwriter of this blog) and two economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is a good resource for anyone wanting an overview of pre-kindergarten issues. Chat covered financing, access, quality, accountability, and much more. Lots of helpful links to organizations doing good work.

The Fed has come up with a specific proposal regarding how to invest in expanding pre-kindergarten.Here's how economist Art Rolnick of the Fed summed it up: "We propose to provide every at-risk child with a parent mentor and scholarships to attend a high quality early childhood development program. The scholarships will be funded at a level to encourage quality programs, including high quality teachers." Rolnick says such a program would cost about $90 million in Minnesota annually. The idea of "parent mentors" starting prenatally was explored in a brilliant piece last year by the New Yorker's Katherine Boo.

Steve Barnett, the director of the National Institute on Early Education Research, has a commentary in his organization's Preschool Matters newsletter that acknowledges the major contributions of Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman. Friedman was the first to say that the government should give parents vouchers that could be cashed in to pay tuition at public or private schools. Of course, vouchers have made almost no inroads in K-12 education. But Barnett points out that vouchers are used widely in child care and also in state pre-k programs. Journalists should keep this idea in their minds when they write about vouchers dismissively. The article can be found here.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe wants to spend $40 million more on state pre-school programs and he's looking to a study from the National Institute for Early Education Research to bolster his case. NIEER, which judges the Arkansas Better Chance pre-school program to be a good one, concluded that the program had helped the poor children it serves to make significant gains in vocabulary, math, and what's called "print awareness." In the past, the Arkansas program was funded largely with a 3 cent tax on beer. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee had said that tax had to continue to keep the program going or expand it. Beebe hasn't yet said whether he'll continue to tap the wallets of beer drinkers to give more kids a good start on their educations. By the way, the Committee for Economic Development has a helpful overview of how programs are financed here.

Gov. Brad Henry of Oklahoma announced a plan to increase education spending in the state by about 10%, or $360 million. He's also said to be on the verge of announcing an increase in spending on the state's pre-kindergarten program, which is highly regarded for quality. That program reaches 70% of the four-year-olds in the state, tops in the nation.

New NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer's first budget proposal includes phasing in full funding of the state's universal pre-k program, with a price tag of $645 million, by 2010-2011. OK, so it's three years away, and out of a budget of $120 million, maybe it's not a big deal, dollarwise. But, still, wouldn't it at least merit a mention? It is new, after all. I read most of the 63 stories about the budget announcement that a Google search turned up and I could find only one that devoted even a line to it. Lots of speculation about the politics, about the cut in property taxes, about the increase in education spending. But nary a word about a proposed major increase to a program that would benefit many poor, middle, and working class families. Now, if we were talking about $20,000 per year preschools for rich kids...then we'd see some ink on it. [OK, my bad, an editorial in the Buffalo News had these words as part of a list of Spitzer's proposals: "universal pre-kindergarten." So, it WAS mentioned after all.]

South Dakota is one of only 10 states without any statewide pre-kindergarten program. Sioux Falls business man Ron Moquist, who describes himself as politically conservative, wants to change that. Moquist headed up a three-year Chamber of Commerce research effort that looked at the potential of pre-kindergarten programs to offset the often-debilitating effects of child poverty. He tells Minnesota Public Radio in this story that:

"If you start from a poverty background you will have a difficult time in school. So what we said is that we've got to get to these kids sooner because so many of them are starting kindergarten 18 months behind their peers and most of them never catch up."

Kudos to MPR for picking up on this story. Business leaders and Republicans nationally are among those who support investing in education early, because the pay off is greater. Story also reaches out to a pre-k expert, who talks about what makes for a quality preschool.

Missed this coverage of a report identifying a space shortage in California that would leave one in five 4 year olds without a space on the rug if all tried to enroll in pre-kindergarten.

New Mexico Lieutenant Gov. Diane Denish, one of the strongest forces behind the start-up of the pre-k program in her state in 2005, now wants the number of children served to be doubled.. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagovich wants to increase the state's spending on preschool by $70 million, opening up 12,000 slots. Some legislators in Missouri will be proposing expansion of state-funded preschool to all disadvantaged children. Finally, a consortium of colleges, the city of Tuscaloosa, the Mayor's office, and the Tuscaloosa school system are working on a citywide pre-k program. Editorial in the Tuscaloosa News says that, "In the long term, Tuscaloosa will be a better community thanks to this program."

According to the National Institute of Early Education Research, Alabama in 2005 ranked 37th in the percentage of its 4 year olds served. The state also cut its per-pupil spending on pre-k every year from 2000 tto 2005 and the elimination of federal child care funds available to poor working women were cut. Whenever journalists report on a new program or purported expansion of state spending on pre-k, it's important to say what the state is already doing. A doubling of 2% of the 4 year olds served may look better than it is, especially if the funds aren't doubled as well.

My earlier post on coverage of the new National Institute on Early Education Research report noted that journalists hadn't picked up the "mo' money, even mo' kids'"angle. Should have checked USA Today's coverage before I said that. Greg Toppo was all over it. See how he handled it here.

Toppo also noted the existence of a new website called savvysource.com, which offers parents a way to judge the quality of preschools in their communities. Toppo quotes the site's founder as saying it is "kind of a combination of Zagat's and Craigslist" for parents of young kids.

Follow-up: Look for letters in newspapers around the country from pre-k supporters. The advocacy group Pre-K Now which, like this blog, gets support from The Pew Charitable Trusts sees the AP story on the NIEER report as a hook for supporters to write to newspapers and demand more money to be spent to raise program quality.

Looks like Iowa will be investing millions over the next four years to ensure that every Iowa four year old has a chance to attend preschool. The AP reports that a Senate measure looks like it will pass, the House is on board and so is the governor. The story reports that the $15 million plan will make "quality" preschool available for 28,000 children. Do the math and that's $535 per child. I know there's something I'm missing here. But so are readers and listeners in Iowa.

Pre-K Now's annual legislative roundup reports that 29 governors made it a priority this year to increase their state's spending on pre-kindergarten education. The report also said, however, that 12 states either kept the funding the same as last year or cut spending below the cost of living. The National Institute on Early Education Research reported a few weeks back that while
total state spending for prekindergarten had increased to nearly $3.3 billion, spending was not keeping up with enrollment growth and inflation. Funding per child fell to its lowest level since NIEER began collecting data five years ago.

One purpose of the annual "Leadership Matters" survey by the advocacy group Pre-K Now is to praise governors going along with the plan of adding more public dollars for preschool and to spank governors who are wavering, have jumped off the bandwagon, or who haven't yet climbed aboard. The report released this week praised Kathleen Blanco, the governor of Louisiana who has announced she won't run for reelection, and The Daily Advertiser of Lafayette, Louisiana took note. On the other hand, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina was taken to task for his "evaporating" support for universal pre-kindergarten and the Post and Courier of Charleston took note. (Full disclosure: Pre-K Now, like this blog, is supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which advocates for public spending for universal pre-kindergarten.) In each of these stories, the reporters quoted people in the states unaffiliated with the national report and used it as a hook for a status report on pre-k in the state. What I didn't see in either story, however, was any attempt to connect the Pre-K Now report to the earlier report by the National Institute for Early Education Research on the quality of state programs. I also didn't see any mention of how much the states are spending per pupil. Quantity has to be matched by quality, otherwise these programs will have little if any effect.

Maureen Downey in the Atlanta Journal Constitution uses a study by the Economic Policy Institute to argue that the state should abandon two tax cuts--for homeowners and the elderly with incomes of $150,000 or more--to pay to double spending on the state's pre-k program. The money would increase enrollment and increase quality, by raising per pupil spending from $4,000 to $6,300.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm is in a tight spot. She's caught between a here-and-now plunge in current tax revenues and the need to prepare children of today as best she can to function the world of the future. She wants a $1.5 billon tax increase to offset a deficit over two years of $2 billion. To get the additional revenues, she's threatening to force massive cuts in health care and education starting June 1. State Supe Mike Flanagan has told school districts to start cutting preschool immediately. Actually, that's a shrewd move. Cut those preschool classes and send Michigan parents who depend on them into an instant frenzy, which could pressure the Michigan Legislature to go along with the tax hike Granholm wants. "We can invest in order to pull this state out of this economic slump or we can disinvest and further the spiral downward," Granholm said in seeking to get the Legislature to act.

The National Institute on Early Education Research has weighed in, with an op-ed arguing that cutting preschool is like a farmer "eating his seed corn."

Easy quick-hit story would be for a journalist to go out to one of the school district preschools and talked to a dozen or so parents dropping off their children about what they'd do if, starting June 1st, their kids had nowhere to go.

Pre-K Now, the advocacy group underwritten by The Pew Charitable Trusts, has put out a helpful, dispassionate report that provides journalists and policy makers with very helpful tools for analyzing the many studies that calculate precise economic benefits of high quality preschool. What I like about the report, by Albert Wat, is that it gives journalists these analytical tools in a way that even non-economists can understand. It's a good resource that you should keep on your desk. (I know, under that enormous pile of other reports that seems like it's always about to slide off into your lap, burying you forever--or, at least until your editor comes over looking for you.)

The Bergen (N.J.) Record's 2006 series on waste, corruption and misuse of public funds meant to improve preschool in New Jersey continues to win plaudits. The series by Kathleen Carroll and Jean Rimbach just won the $10,000 Clark Mollenhoff Award for Excellence in Investigative Reporting from the Institute on Political Journalism. Earlier this month, Carroll and Rimbach won the Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting from the Education Writers Assn. The series published last April relied on state audits as well as old-fashioned buttonhole reporting and identified preschool operators who were taking the taxpayers of the state for a ride. Instead of providing high quality preschool, some private operators spent money on luxury cars, vacations, and gambling while refusing to pay their teachers' benefits or provide good quality settings. The series also won the prize for the best investigative series in the 100,000 to 250,000 circulation category from the Investigative Reporters and Editors organization.

As in New Jersey, most of the states investing in pre-kindergarten are spending money on private as well as public school settings. The series highlighted the need for states to oversee how those funds are spent.

Dems and Reeps in Tennessee are fighting over whether to expand the state's pre-k program beyond poor kids to all kids. Alas, the plea for bipartisanship from the political leaders from both parties who gathered in Norman, OK this week is yet to be heard in TN. Gov. Phil Bredesen, a strong advocate for pre-k, said the national campaign for president is making politics in his state more partisan. Bredesen spoke last year to editorial writers at a conference organized by the Hechinger Institute in collaboration with the National Conference of Editorial Writers. He said then he wanted to roll out universally available high-quality pre-kindergarten over the next three and a half years. He started small with the pre-k program and expanded it over time to maintain high quality. The Reeps in TN apparently haven't heard that message either. They say they don't want to spend more than the $80 million the program costs now to subsidize "glorified day care." Now, were I reporter in Tennessee, I'd test Bredesen's statement as well as those of Republicans. Is the current program glorified day care or is high quality pre-kindergarten?

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley picked up a couple of important endorsements for his plan to triple state spending on pre-kindergarten. Riley, a Republican, is meeting resistance from his own party in the state and Republicans are dragging their heels in South Carolina and Tennessee as well. The Head Start association and the organization of private providers in Alabama are both on board with Riley now. Why is this signficant? The reason is that Head Start is often wary of pre-k proposals, because they tend to be better funded. And the private providers usually balk because they fear losing their paying clients to a free service. For example, Gov. Phil Bredeson in Tennessee told the Hechinger Institute last spring that one of the biggest hurdles he faced in expanding pre-k there was the private providers group.

The tension between these groups can be found in just about all the states that are expanding their pre-k spending so it's worthwhile for journalists to pay attention to the compromises that result. In some states, such as Massachusetts, these groups have found common ground. That's interesting too.

(Virginia Governor Tim Kaine during State of the Commonwealth address Jan. 9)

David Harrison of The Roanoke Times did a good job Sunday pointing out the obstacles to expanding pre-kindergarten programs in Virginia.

These are issues well worth exploration by reporters. Harrison found problems filling slots and finding space for pre-kindergarten classes in two areas of Roanoke and Roanoke County, and noted that it meant state money had to be left on the table. The issue is particularly important in Virginia because it comes at a time when Democratic Governor Tim Kaine is pushing to make preschool available to an additional 7,000 children over the next two years, at a cost of $56 million.

In his state of the state address on Jan. 9, Kaine noted that children who attend high quality preschool “are more likely to finish school, find good jobs and are less likely to commit a crime.’’ Kaine has already taken a step back from campaign promises to provide pre-kindergarten for all, after facing skepticism among Republicans in the General Assembly and state budget problems.

Kaine instead said he would focus on the neediest children in the state. Virginia now provides preschool for almost 19,000 Virginia low-income children. But Harrison found that some school districts can’t afford to pay for their share of the costs, or don’t have enough room for all the children who are eligible. Another district has problems getting parents of high-risk 4-year-olds to fill out the paperwork and come to the sites for screening.

Harrison went beyond making a few phone calls and told his readers why pre-kindergarten matters by visiting a classroom, watching what took place and interviewing parents. One father delighted in the fact that his son came home from pre-school and asked to be read to. It’s an example that gives readers a clearer sense of why early childhood education matters to parents rather than simply covering what the politicians have to say.

As governors continue to push expanded pre-kindergarten programs, journalists are right to do some reporting and find out what may stand in their way.
That’s what Josh Bean of the Press Register in Alabama did earlier this week, noting that Republican Governor Bob Riley’s plan to expand the state’s highly praised but small pre-kindergarten program may be hampered by a lack of qualified teachers.
Bean’s story noted that the majority of teachers who attend education schools earn degrees that certify them to teach kindergarten through sixth grade instead of the separate early childhood designation they need to become pre-kindergarten teachers.
He also pointed out that Riley’s expansion plan comes at a time when eighteen percent fewer people are graduating from the state’s teacher-training programs than a decade ago. Only 13 percent of the state’s 3,700 annual education graduates earn the early childhood certification they need to teach pre-kindergarten, his story says.
Reporters covering the big push in their states for pre-kindergarten can’t simply report on the big speeches and promises their governors make. They should find out what it will really take to make such expansions work and whenever possible spend time in pre-kindergarten classes to help educate the public about what takes place in them.
Bean’s story notes another obstacle Riley’s plan faces – the public’s lack of understanding. He quotes Marquita Davis, Alabama’s director of the Office of School Readiness. "Many people still think it's baby-sitting.’’

The Associated Press coverage of Alabama Gov. Bob Riley's budget announcement highlighted two of his ideas related to early education--a tripling of the state's investment in pre-kindergarten and expanded support for the Alabama Reading Initiative. (You will recall that the reading initiative in Alabama, as in many states, has gotten support from the federal Reading First program, which the Democrats in Congress cut by more than two-thirds.) But Riley is no big government, budget busting Republican. He also wants to cut income taxes to spur the state's economy.

With the economy fizzling and the U.S. appeared headed for a recession, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich calls for good pre-schools, small class sizes and higher quality education in low and moderate income communities.

Reich, now a faculty member at Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, made his remarks in an op-ed that appeared in Tuesday’s New York Times, entitled “Totally Spent’’.

“Over the longer term, inequality can be reversed only through better schools for children in lower- and moderate-income communities,’’ Reich wrote. “This will require, at the least, good preschools, fewer students per classroom and better pay for teachers in such schools, in order to attract the teaching talent these students need.’’

Reich, whose remarks drew nearly 200 comments to the Times website, also called for increasing the wages of the bottom two-thirds of Americans. He noted that while the number of working mothers with school-aged children has almost doubled since 1970 to more than 70 percent, “there’s a limit to how many mothers can maintain paying jobs.’’

Reich maintains his own blog at http://robertreich.blogspot.com/

A group calling itself "Americans for Prosperity-Kansas" gets today's star sticker for one of the more creative anti-preschool arguments I've encountered. The group's model budget contends that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' proposal to increase spending by $3 million on pre-kindergarten for low-income children is a "'hidden' subsidy for public education." The group says an unnamed study had found that children attending pre-k or day care the previous year do not gain socially or cognitively and "in some measures end up lagging behind their peers who enjoy the attention of their parents exclusively." The money, the budget says, would be better spent highlighting the important role of parents.

Couple questions to ask: What "study" are they referring to and is that the actual conclusion? Did the "study" control for income? Parents who can care for their children may be poor but more likely they are parents affluent enough to not have to work. That's not an option for most parents.

This is the Kansas arm of a national anti-tax group. Ideological consistency is sometimes difficult, however. To maintain its anti-public education stance, the group's Missouri arm applauds legislation that would give parents of children with special needs the final say as to whether their children are educated in public or private settings. This is certainly not an easy issue and the federal IDEA law governing special education gives parents a role in determining how their children are educated. But school districts across the country are struggling with the enormous cost of these private placements, which can cost upwards of $40,000 or more a year and which, by the way, are paid for with public money. It's a dilemma, to be sure, but one the group doesn't acknowledge.

The annual “State of Preschool” yearbook from the National Institute of Early Education Research is out today and, as usual, there’s good as well as disappointing news for those who favor universal access to high quality preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds.

First the good….

Enrollment was up by 80,000 nationally in the 2006-2007 school year and, reversing a four-year-trend, inflation-adjusted per pupil spending was up too: by $32. The gain is small but it’s better than the decline in per-pupil spending that occurred in each of the past four years as enrollments grew quickly. Despite the slight uptick, per pupil spending still remains below what it was in 2002, according to NIEER’s Steve Barnett.

Biggest percentage gain in enrollment—52 percent—was tallied in Tennessee, where Gov. Phil Bredesen is fighting Republican opposition to continue to expand the program. More here. Even as enrollment grows in Tennessee, the state is maintaining high standards. Tennessee’s program meets nine out of 10 NIEER quality benchmarks. Only two states—North Carolina and Alabama—meet all 10 benchmarks. In Alabama, Republican Gov. Bob Riley is battling his own party as he tries to expand enrollment in the relatively tiny program.

Now the bad….

Kansas met only three of the 10 quality standards. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is trying to expand and improve that program. (Again, fighting Republican resistance.) Even more worrisome to Barnett is that the state programs of California, Texas and Florida, which collectively serve nearly 40% of the American four-year-olds in state-funded preschools, met only four of the 10 quality standards.“Those states could really result in such a dismal picture for so many of America’s kids,” he said.

NY1 focused yesterday on the plight of one school that offers half-day prekindergarten classes for its neighborhood, but lacks the funding to expand the program into full time (all day) pre-K services. The article nicely touches on the major issue facing the pre-K programs in NYS – funding. While in 1997 the universal pre-K program was heralded for its expansion,inventiveness and rally cry to provide Pre-K to all of NYS children, by the 2001 budget, funding had dried up significantly and the programs were stalled. According to a 2004 census, there were over 400,000 4 year olds in NYC, but only 48,000 were in a pre-K program, and the majority of those children were in half day pre-K.

It's good to see more personal stories on the lack of pre-k and its effect on the community, and this will hopefully lead to more questions...and more action.

The Jackson Clarion Ledger published an editorial last week urging better funding for pre-kindergarten, noting that Mississippi is one of only 11 states without a state funded program.

The responses posted at the end of the editorial made it clear how much opposition remains in the state, ranked 48th in the nation in per pupil spending and 48th in student achievement.

“Government baby-sitting,’’ one individual wrote. “Early childhood indoctrination for the socialist USA. Get them on the big yellow buses to send them to the fascist-run propaganda factories ASAP. Sorry, send your children. Leave mine alone.’’

Such remarks should be worrisome to pre-kindergarten advocates in the state, where Republican Governor Haley Barbour has resisted funding expansions like nearby Tennessee.

Advocates who support the Quality Act of 2008 are now hopeful that lawmakers in the large rural state will include $5 million in the budget to improve existing centers. Money would be earmked for three programs approved in 2006 but never funded: an early childhood grant program, a child-care resource and referral effort, and a “quality step system,” which would pay bonuses to providers who meet higher-than-minimum standards, according to an article in this week's Education Week.

One person who responded to the editorial wanted to know what other states that fund pre-kindergarten are actually getting for their tax dollars. Another complained that the state can’t “get it right,’’ with its K-12 students.

The opinions expressed freely are a window into an issue that merits thorough coverage and exploration.

Governors who push for pre-kindergarten funding in the face of budget woes won't always get public applause, but they certainly will get adulation from pre-kindergarten advocates. That's what happened last week to Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, who recently told reporters the economy his hampered his ability to expand spending.

But Patrick managed to propose triple funding for prekindergarten education, asking for $22.1 million in next year's budget, earning him accolades from PreK Now. His proposal would boost access for 14,320 3-and 4-year-olds if approved by the Legislature.

In Tennessee, however, it's a different story for Governor Phil Bredesen who has also been something of a darling among pre-kindergarten advocates for expanding programs and extolling the virtues of early education. This week, Bredesen acknowledged how difficult funding for pre-kindergarten will be at a time when the state is faced with a $500 million budget shortfall.

Bredesen told parents, teachers and others that the program is resented by opponents as "publicly funded babysitting,'' and added that there are real difficulties getting General Assembly approval.

The City Paper in Nashville produced an insightful analysis of the Tennessee budget realities that forced Gov. Bredesen to give up on his plans to keep expanding the state's pre-k program. The move shows shows the seriousness of the state's financial problems, said Rep. Les Winningham (D-Huntsville), the chairman of the House Education Committee. “Obviously, he had a goal of continual expansion of pre-K,” Winningham said. “And we have to know and recognize that when he actually pulls back on an investment in that, that the situation financially is pretty serious.”

(Poll shows public favors public pre-kindergarten investment)

Candidates take note: Americans want publicly funded pre-kindergarten and believe in a federal role for it, according to a bipartisan poll from Peter D. Hart Research Associates Inc. and American Viewpoint. Nearly 7 in 10 voters said they wanted more federal support for state-funded pre-kindergarten. Highlights