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Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Pre-K For 3-Year-Olds: Why Or Why Not?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A group of Democratic lawmakers wants to spend some of Georgia’s Lottery money to expand the free state Pre-K program from 4-year-olds to 3-year-olds.
State Reps. Mary Margaret Oliver, Stephanie Benfield and Kathy Ashe filed a bill last week that would require the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning to create a voluntary pre-kindergarten program for toddlers.
“We ask the General Assembly to appropriate $25 million from the $600 million unrestricted reserve fund to create classes for at least 5,000 3-year-olds,” the lawmakers wrote in a guest editorial yesterday. “This sum approximates the interest earned on the [Lottery] reserve fund. We can afford this new Pre-K expansion and must do so at this time to improve educational success for Georgia’s children.”
Coincidentally, I recently received a mailed copy of an 80-page report also promoting the use of unused Lottery funds. Unlike the lawmakers, however, high-profile attorney Emmet Bondurant wants to see funding for the current Pre-K program increased — perhaps doubled or tripled.
“It is a scandal that the state government is sitting on [nearly $600 million in] unrestricted Lottery surplus … when the educational needs of Georgia’s youngest children are vastly underfunded,” Bondurant wrote in his cover letter.
I know a few pre-school providers who would agree with him.
So, talk all you want about the idea of public school for 3-year-olds. What I want to know is: Why expand Pre-K to include a new age group of kids when the current program may need shoring up?
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