The steady growth of preschool slowed last year, as states spent less per pupil and a majority of ranked states fell short of quality benchmarks, according to The State of Preschool 2009, which was released this morning. And it could get even worse this year.
While the number of children enrolled in state-funded preschools rose by 81,000 students to 1.2 million, the increase was smaller than recent years. Overall, states spent, on average, $4,143 on each preschool student last year, a drop from $4,179 the year before, once amounts were adjusted for inflation, according to annual report from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).
Looking ahead, the report suggests the deep national recession could lead to cuts this year
“In some states enrollment has been cut back to the lowest levels in many years. Other states have cut funding and quality,” Steven Barnett, author of the report and co-director of NIEER said in a statement. “The immediate future of pre-K seems much more perilous than past trends might suggest…State budgets will more fully bear the brunt of the recession in 2010 and 2011.”
In fact, 11 states are considering cutting spending on pre-kindergarten in 2011, Barnett added.
Washington is not among those states. It ranked 6th among 38 states with programs in the amount of state funds spent on preschool, though its spending fell slightly from 2008.
The state also reached nine of 10 quality benchmarks set by the report: staff-to-child ratio; maximum classroom size; assistant teacher degree requirements; teacher specialized training; meals; monitoring; screening-referral and support services and teacher in-service.
But, Washington was only 33rd among ranked states in offering four-year-old children access to pre-kindergarten.
“We spend far more than the national average per child enrolled ($4,143 nationally, we spend $6,890). That means we may serve fewer children, but the quality of the program is high. But with the legislation passed this session, we're going to be serving all eligible children by 2018-2019. So we're getting there,” Amy Blondin, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Early Learning, wrote in an e-mail.
Washington also:
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Spent a total of $55.9 million on pre-kindergarten in 2009.
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Added 2,250 children and families to its Early Childhood Education and Assistance program (ECEAP) during 2007-09.
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Served 8,100 children and families in ECEAP in 2008-09.
The national picture of early education was not as positive. The report found:
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Real spending per child declined in 24 out of 38 states with programs.
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Twenty-three of 38 states with state-funded preschool failed to meet NIEER benchmarks for teacher qualifications and 26 failed to meet the benchmark for assistant teacher qualifications.
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Twelve states had no state-funded pre-k program: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
But, the report also had good news:
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Among the 12 states with no state pre-k program, two, Alaska and Rhode Island, began pilot programs in the current school year.
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The total level of funding for state pre-k rose above $5 billion, roughly half of the increase in 2008.
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