Holly Higgins
Office 202.862.9863
Mobile 202.834.6846
hhiggins@preknow.org
(Washington, D.C.) – Despite vocal support for pre-kindergarten initiatives in his state, Governor Haley Barbour's decision to keep Mississippi's children in the "Pre-K Wilderness" earns him negative marks in a national report released today by Pre-K Now. "Leadership Matters: Governors' Pre-K Proposals Fiscal Year 2009" admonishes the governor for his empty rhetoric and weak leadership on pre-k: while he recognized the need to expand access to and improve the quality of existing pre-k programs in his State of the State speech, he failed to match his words with actions.
"Mississippi educators, advocates and the governor all say that the current status of pre-k in the state isn't sufficient," says Libby Doggett, executive director for Pre-K Now. "The difference is that educators and advocates have worked hard and consistently to make pre-k a reality, whereas Gov. Barbour failed to follow through."
All of the state's neighbors—Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama—are expanding their high-quality pre-k programs to reach more children every year. Gov. Barbour could have leveraged this momentum to launch Mississippi's first state pre-k program. Instead, he chose to keep Mississippi as the only Southern member of the Pre-K Wilderness, a group of a dozen states with no state-funded pre-k. While Head Start serves many of the state's at-risk children, a growing number of low- and middle-income children in Mississippi do not have access to the programs that help them enter school ready to learn and succeed.
In contrast, in spite of significant fiscal and political challenges, 16 governors and the mayor of Washington, D.C., chose to increase investments in pre-k by $261 million. Their FY09 budget proposals would bring total state funding for pre-k to $5.2 billion—a 5.5% funding increase from last year—and would make pre-k available to nearly 60,000 more three and four year olds.
"It is a shame for Mississippi's children that just across the border, other states' leaders are making sure children get these nurturing opportunities to learn numbers, letters and teamwork," Doggett said. "Access to quality pre-k shouldn't be about where a child lives or luck of the draw."
Additional report findings include:
- Commitment to pre-k is neither "red" nor "blue": both Republican and Democratic governors proposed pre-k funding increases.
- The governor of Missouri was the only other state executive cited for a disconnect between pre-k rhetoric and pre-k funding.
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Pre-K Now collaborates with state advocates and policymakers to lead a movement for high-quality voluntary pre-kindergarten for all three and four year olds. The following funders contribute to making this important work possible: The Pew Charitable Trusts, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the McCormick Tribune Foundation, the Foundation for Child Development, RGK Foundation, CityBridge Foundation, PNC Financial Services Group, and the Schumann Fund for New Jersey.
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