Georgia was the first state to adopt a goal of voluntary pre-kindergarten for all children and came closer than most to achieving it. Georgia also raised the quality of pre-k through a series of improvements in state standards and accountability.
Last school year, Georgia capped its achievements by becoming one of only five states to meet all 10 benchmarks for pre-k quality standards assessed by the National Institute for Early Education Research. Yet, celebration was short-lived.
This school year, Georgia raised maximum class size from 20 to 22 and reduced the preschool year by a month, which cut teacher pay and produced an exodus of highly qualified pre-k teachers. Pre-k funding per child fell to its lowest level in a decade, more than $1,000 below 2001 when adjusted for inflation. At the same time, Georgia slipped to fourth in the country for enrollment at age 4 as other states made more progress.
To borrow from “A Tale of Two Cities,” for pre-k “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” High-quality pre-k generates benefits far greater than costs by increasing later school success, reducing crime and increasing employment and earnings. That makes pre-k a wise public investment, but in seeking to expand pre-k Georgia undercut the foundation of benefits: good teachers, small classes and sufficient exposure to them. The reason is a tale of two lotteries.
Public pre-k in Georgia depends entirely on state lottery funds, which it shares with the HOPE scholarship program. These funds have been flat or declining while Georgia’s population continued to grow. That gives rise to the second lottery in this tale. With too few spaces in pre-k, lotteries decide which children will be admitted. Many thousands end up wait-listed, and each year the pressure grows to cut quality in order to expand or even maintain enrollment.
There is a way out of this dilemma. Economists tell families who want a better future to “pay yourself first” by investing before consuming. That’s good advice for states. Georgia should set aside funds for high-quality pre-k before allocating money to noninvestment spending.
For example, Georgia spends $1.1 billion annually on the fourth-largest prison system in the nation. Cut sentences for nonviolent offenders by 10 percent and use the savings to pay for pre-k. Georgia also could dedicate another revenue stream to pre-k. Future tax rates in Georgia will be lower as pre-k lowers the numbers going to prison and raises earnings in the next generation.
If Georgia recommits to high quality pre-k for every child, the story of its pre-k program can be like “A Tale of Two Cities,” a story of historic change and rebirth. If not, pre-k will decline steadily and become glorified baby-sitting that benefits no one.
W. Steven Barnett is director of the National Institute for Early Education Research.
About the Author
