President Obama is scheduled to be in metro Atlanta from mid-morning to mid-afternoon Thursday. For further details on how that could affect traffic, go to ajc.com.
Georgia’s pre-kindergarten program will get a turn in the national spotlight this week when President Barack Obama uses Decatur as a backdrop to promote an education initiative to give low-income preschoolers an earlier start on their schooling.
Although White House officials are mum on the details, several people briefed on the plans said Obama plans to address a proposal that would give more 3- and 4-year-olds from low-income families a chance to go to pre-k programs. On Thursday he will visit Decatur’s College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center.
College Heights’ website says the school serves 326 children through a partnership with City Schools of Decatur and Partners for Community Action, Inc. (Head Start Program).
Georgia is a fitting place for the announcement as the state was considered far ahead of its time two decades ago when it used lottery funds to launch a statewide pre-kindergarten program. In recent years, though, flattening lottery revenues and increasing enrollment have forced the state to reduce pre-kindergarten schedules and increase class sizes.
“Our pre-k program is still a national example. But certainly we can do more to increase quality and access,” said Mindy Binderman, the executive director of Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, an advocacy group. “We have to be sure we don’t rest on our laurels.”
Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, said the president’s expected proposal has the potential to offer “a remarkable boost” to efforts to provide educational and economic opportunities for all.
“Well-designed preschool education programs could close the entire achievement gap between children from low- and high-income families at school entry and as much as half the gap permanently,” Barnett said.
After Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, the president is scheduled to travel to North Carolina, Georgia and Chicago to amplify some of the policies he lays out Tuesday. A White House official, briefing reporters in advance of the State of the Union speech, declined to “give away the secret” of any new education policy.
The official said Obama “certainly does view his trip to Atlanta as a good opportunity for him to really drill down on some of the policies that are going to be so critical to strengthening our policies for the middle class.”
Details of Obama’s Thursday visit haven’t been released, but he’s expected to visit pre-kindergarten students at College Heights and swing by the Decatur Recreation Center. Courtney Burnett, the Decatur school system’s legislative liaison, said employees are scurrying to prepare for Obama’s arrival.
“Everyone is very excited. This is a big honor for us,” she said. “It’s the first time we can recall a visit to a Decatur school by a president.”
State Sen. Fran Millar, a Dunwoody Republican and former chairman of the Senate education committee, said he’s optimistic that Obama’s proposal will mean significant changes to the early-childhood education system.
“I firmly believe that early learning is critical for long-term success and believe investment in this initiative by the feds and states makes sense,” Millar said. “The president got this one right.”
Georgia initially opened pre-k to children from low-income families but quickly expanded admission to all 4-year-olds regardless of family income. But in recent years, legislators and Gov. Nathan Deal made unpopular changes to the program amid soaring enrollment and flagging lottery earnings.
The pre-kindergarten program was slashed by 20 calendar days in 2011 as part of a package of cuts Deal said were needed to keep the lottery-funded education programs afloat. After an exodus of pre-k teachers, Deal won legislative support to reinstate 10 of the 20 days. He’s now proposing to add back the remaining 10 days.
Though it was designed to be open to every child, the pre-kindergarten program often has a waiting list of several thousand children. It now enrolls about 84,000, including about 60 percent who are described as low-income, said spokesman Reg Griffin.
A recent University of North Carolina study shows that students in the program are making academic strides but pre-k classes still largely fall short of the highest standards for quality. Bobby Cagle, who heads the state’s early childhood department, said the lottery-funded program will continue to improve school readiness.
“We are honored by the president’s visit this week and appreciate the attention he will bring to the importance of early childhood education,” he said.
Binderman, the early childhood advocate, said she’s pushing the state to pour more funding into pre-k programs to reduce class sizes and add teachers. And she wants funding for family resource coordinators restored to provide extra support to at-risk children. But she said Obama’s visit sends a message that Georgia is still viewed as a trendsetter when it comes to early childhood education.
“What’s so exciting is that the president picked Georgia. We were the first in the country to do universal pre-k and we’re still seen as a leader,” said Binderman. “There’s no question we can be doing more, but we’re on the path to pursuing higher standards and better quality.”
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