Funding

During the past year, the legislature increased pre-k funding.

Rationale: All states, even Oklahoma and Georgia, which offer pre-k for all four year olds, or Arkansas, where pre-k is of the highest quality, need more funding for their programs. States where pre-k funding is flat or in decline are not able to improve program quality or expand access. On the other hand, programs that receive increased funding each year show consistent improvement in quality and availability. Pre-k has been shown in numerous studies to reduce state costs in other areas such as K-12 education, law enforcement, and public assistance. However, it is important that pre-k funding increases not come at the expense of other children's services. Such cuts can undermine the very systems upon which pre-k is built, reduce basic services that enable children to benefit from pre-k, undermine efforts to secure pre-k funding, and diminish the quality and effectiveness of pre-k.

Examples: Pre-k in Arkansas, called the Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) program, has both strong backing among key legislators and grassroots support throughout the state. This political muscle has meant significant increases for the program over the last two years as legislators have appropriated an additional $60 million and committed to continue funding up to $100 million over the next several years. As a result, ABC is one of the nation's highest-quality pre-k programs. Currently advocates in Illinois are fighting for increases to the Early Childhood Block Grant and fighting against proposed decreases to child care. If one pot of money for children increases and another pot decreases, overall pre-k services suffer.