Despite the sagging U.S. economy and stubborn budget deficits, overall states maintained spending on core early learning programs in the most recent fiscal year, with pre-kindergarten emerging as the biggest winner, a new report says. 

U.S. states increased spending on early care and education programs by 1.5 percent in fiscal 2011, the National Conference of State Legislatures reports. One of its most interesting findings was that states spent more on pre-k, while cutting back child care support. There are a lot of reasons for this difference, and I have to wonder if among those is a growing interest in school readiness. (We will dig into that topic later this fall.)

State prekindergarten programs fared best overall with an increase of $394 million. The prekindergarten finding indicates the importance of this program to states… States mostly did not cut, and survey findings from the past few years show a continued increased investment in some states. In addition, at least 14 states have decided to maintain or increase funds to prekindergarten four years in a row. -- “Early Care and Education State Budget Actions FY 2011,” National Conference of State Legislatures. 8/11/11.

Other winners included home visiting, which enjoyed a small overall increase, the report found.

Of the 40 states that reported appropriations to home visiting in FY 2011, 27 increased funding, six maintained funding and seven decreased funding for a total one percent increase. New federal funds from the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program will boost state home visiting programs in the coming years. -- “Early Care and Education State Budget Actions FY 2011.”

Of course, this is a broad brush report. In fiscal 2011. some states cut, while others increased funding for early ed. (Check out the summary page for a chart and interactive map on individual state spending decisions.) Washington state was one of the states that spent more, increasing funding by 22.9 percent, including a 28.8 percent increase in child care programs, according to the report.

A big reason for the nationwide increase in early education spending was that states were still able to tap funds from the economic stimulus package. With that money now largely gone and states still struggling financially, this fiscal year’s budget debates could be tough.