Preschool Education

According to the National Institute for Early Education Research, 18 states had at least 30 percent of 4-year-olds enrolled in state-funded preschool as of 2016. That compares to only two states in 2002. In the Midwest, Wisconsin and Iowa have the highest rates. (Nationally, only Florida and Oklahoma rank ahead of Wisconsin.)

The Wisconsin Constitution calls for schools to be “free and without charge for tuition to all children between the ages of 4 and 20 years,” and local districts receive state dollars for 4-year-old kindergarten via the K-12 funding formula (aid is equivalent to 0.5 or 0.6 dollars per child). Nearly all of Wisconsin’s school districts now provide voluntary, universal kindergarten to 4-year-olds.

Iowa also is among the nine U.S. states that provide districts with preschool dollars via their K-12 funding formulas, according to the Education Commission of the States. School districts in Iowa receive foundation aid based on their enrollment count for 4-year-olds (50 percent per child). The number of children served through Iowa’s preschool program has more than quadrupled since its inception in 2007, with about 98 percent of the state’s school districts now participating.

Over the next two years, Indiana will invest an additional $20 million in a pilot initiative that provides low-income families with access to pre-kindergarten programs. First established in 2014, On My Way Pre-K currently serves nearly 2,300 students in five counties.

Additional state dollars will expand the initiative’s reach to 15 more counties. To participate, students must be 4 years old and reside in a family at or below 127 percent of the federal poverty level. (For the original five counties, the income thresholds could be loosened.) The state also will provide funding for in-home, online early-childhood education in parts of the state that lack high-quality providers.

Early childhood education has received increasing amounts of support in recent years. Why? Research indicates that quality early childhood education can lead to significant improvements down the road.

Thousands of 4-year-olds in Minnesota are attending prekindergarten classes this fall as the result of a $25 million investment made by the Legislature. With this money, the state targets aid for school districts and charter schools that serve high numbers of low-income students as well as areas with limited access to high-quality prekindergarten programs.

Starting in 2017, the state of Nebraska will begin offering up to $5 million in tiered tax credits annually to early-childhood programs and their employees — the first Midwestern state, and just the second U.S. state, to do so. Under the School Readiness Tax Credit Act (LB 889, passed earlier this year), which is linked to a quality rating and improvement system created three years ago by the Unicameral Legislature, providers receive incentives based on their quality rating, while eligible employees can claim credits based on education levels, training and work history.

The US Department of Education has issued a report highlighting the stark contrast between the value early childhood education offers to the nation’s children, and the relatively low wages early childhood educators receive for their work, which can make attracting and retaining high quality teachers a challenge.