Every year, the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University issues a report on the ‘State of Preschool.’ It examines state investments in early education programs and rates programs based on whether they’ve met certain criteria. This year, though, the report focuses on possible long-term harm to early education programs due to the Coronavirus.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and the current and, I think, looming economic crisis pose [a] considerable threat to state-funded Pre-K,” says Steven Barnett, NIEER Co-founder and director. “In most states pre-K is discretionary, but it needs to grow and improve, not just hold on. It’s not like K-12, a mature program where every child’s entitled to go.”
The state lottery, not sales and income tax revenue, funds Georgia’s pre-kindergarten program. Still, the program didn’t escape cuts during the 2008 recession. The state shortened the school year by 20 days, cut teacher pay, and increased class size. Some of the cuts have since been restored.
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