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Monday, February 5, 2007
Pre-K: If You Build It, They Will Come
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I attended a Pre-K lottery once where parents watched anxiously as names were pulled from a box until all the classroom rosters were filled. The school had eight pre-kindergarten classes — that’s right, eight — and families still were turned away.
So I was surprised at the recent news out of Cobb County that the school system was going to shut down its participation in Georgia’s Pre-K program, which provides free pre-kindergarten classes for 4-year-olds. I mean, the demand is obviously there.
But the reasons Cobb officials gave for pulling out — lack of funding and classroom space — were not surprising. In fact, as my colleague Diane Stepp pointed out in one of her articles about the decision, the state’s largest school system, Gwinnett County, doesn’t offer Pre-K for similar reasons.
About half of all eligible children are enrolled in the state’s voluntary classes, which are held at both public and private campuses. Gov. Sonny Perdue wants to add as many as 3,000 new enrollment slots next year. But where will all those extra classrooms come from?
