Today the Education Commission of the States released a report that demonstrates broad and genuine support for early childhood education. The report provides a 50 state review of pre-k funding for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, highlighting an increase in early learning programs for the fourth year in a row. The report also provides several state examples and an overview of the pre-k programs they have in place.
Report highlights include:
- Total state funding for preschool programs increased by $767 million to a total of nearly $7 billion. This is a 12 percent increase from last year.
- Support for preschool transcends partisan labels, with 22 states with Republican governors and 10 states with Democratic governors increasing funding for pre-k programs.
- Five states still do not invest state funds into preschool programs – Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Wyoming.
- The District of Columbia tops the lists of per capita funding of pre-k programs for highest state spending states per preschool-aged resident.
We are happy to see state funding for early childhood programs has increased in the states over the past year, but more needs to be done. High-quality programs require larger investments at the state and federal level.
Download and read the full report here.