Georgia pre-k in metro Atlanta
County / Students / Classes / On the waiting list
Cherokee / 1,560 / 77 / 64
Clayton / 2,441 / 113 / 581
Cobb / 4,088 / 192 / 82
DeKalb / 5,411 / 252 / 1,324
Douglas / 1119 / 51 / 101
Fayette / 588 / 28 / 51
Forsyth / 1,375 / 65 / 105
Fulton / 6,639 / 317 / 721
Gwinnett / 7,712 / 359 / 911
Henry / 1,530 / 71 / 52
Source: Bright from the Start: the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning
Georgia’s pre-kindergarten program could soon have what the recession has taken from most of the state’s regular k-12 schools: a 180-day school year.
The pre-k year was cut to 160 days last year as part of a push by Gov. Nathan Deal to ensure the long-term viability of it and the popular HOPE scholarship, programs funded solely from Georgia lottery ticket sales.
The move sent parents scrambling for short-term options and pre-k teachers out the door in record numbers.
Deal responded by obtaining legislative approval earlier this year to return the program to 170 days for the current school year. Now he is planning, when legislators return in January, to push to resume pre-k as a 180-day program.
If lawmakers agree with Deal’s plan, which legislative leaders say is likely, pre-k will be back to 180 days for the school year that starts in August — a move applauded by advocates, providers and others.
“In this uncertain climate, the return of a full pre-k calendar helps us breathe easier,” said Paige McKay Kubik, vice president of development and communications for Sheltering Arms Early Education & Family Centers, one of the state’s biggest pre-k providers. “It means our children will not lose out on the stable, quality, intensive early education that research has proven benefits us all.”
About 84,000 4-year-olds attend pre-k in Georgia, and parents such as Tris Sicignano, a resident of Atlanta’s East Lake community, sing its praises.
Sicignano said her son Jason is doing great in kindergarten this year as a result of a strong foundation built in pre-k.
“The socialization he had in pre-k helped him love learning,” she said recently. “He was sitting at the table this morning, making up math problems.”
For decades, Georgia’s traditional k-12 public school year was 180 days. But in recent years, as school systems have struggled due to the economic downturn, state budget cuts and falling property tax revenue, they have had flexibility to shorten their school calendars while maintaining the same number of instruction hours.
State School Superintendent John Barge said recently that two-thirds of all local school districts — 121 of 180 — have shortened calendars, ranging from 144 to 179 days.
Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said the governor “has a strong commitment to early learning” and has “looked for every possible way to return our pre-k program to a full school year.”
Pat Willis, executive director of the advocacy group Voices for Georgia’s Children, said: “Governor Deal has demonstrated that he understands how essential early childhood development is to education success — and thus economic success — so we expect the program to grow in quality in every aspect.”
Bobby Cagle, who has oversight of pre-k as commissioner of Bright from the Start: the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, said restoring the extra days — and as such, cuts to pre-k teachers’ salaries — should help.
Already this year, teacher turnover has been reduced by 10 percent, though officials cannot say with certainty that’s due solely to the move from a 160-day to 170-day calendar, Cagle said.
The move should also be a big benefit to the children, since research shows that for them, having more class time ranks in importance with having a highly effective teacher in the classroom, he said.
In the 2011 legislative session, Deal announced that major changes had to be made to both HOPE and pre-k as lottery revenue flattened and program costs increased.
He proposed $54 million in cuts to pre-k, including increasing class sizes and cutting the program day from full-time to part-time. He later decided that cutting the school year would be better than shortening the school day.
After that move, the retention rate for the program’s lead, and traditionally most veteran, teachers fell from 83.32 percent to 67.70 percent, according to state data.
To offset the costs of adding back the 10 days for the current school year, Deal opted not to go through with plans to open the program to an additional 2,000 students a year.
Robinson said the cuts that were made in 2011 stabilized the program and “yielded more savings than anticipated.”
“These savings will roll forward and allow us to restore the 10 days,” he said. “We made tough choices that are now paying off.”
Georgia gained a national reputation for innovation in early education when, 20 years ago, it became the first state to adopt a goal of having voluntary pre-k for all children.
Last year, the National Institute for Early Education Research said Georgia was only one of five states to meet all 10 national benchmarks for pre-k quality.
The celebration was short-lived. NIEER Director Steven Barnett predicted the program will meet only eight benchmarks in the institute’s next report, in part because, as a cost-saving measure, the maximum class size for pre-k was raised from 20 to 22 students.
“All of us, including the governor, realize there is work to be done,” Cagle said. “And when the money is available to bring down the class size we will.”
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