Podcast: Parsing the Latest Cuts to State-Funded Preschool

In 2010, states spent an average of $700 less per child on preschool than in the previous year—an ominous sign to advocates of state-funded pre-k. Early Ed Watch reported on the funding drop—and some other noteworthy trends—last week when the National Institute for Early Education Research released its annual report, The State of Preschool 2010. The report tracks state-by-state trends in preschool spending, enrollment and quality.

For this week’s podcast, we took a deeper look at these trends with Rutgers University Professor Steve Barnett, who is co-director of NIEER and an author of the report. On this podcast, Barnett digs in to which states were winners and losers in this year’s yearbook, and how both the state and federal governments should be viewing state-funded pre-k programs as they grapple with constrained budgets.

Early Ed Watch podcast – May 3, 2011

Podcast: What the Funding Drop Means for State-Funded Preschool

With our guest, Steve Barnett, co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research and Professor at Rutgers University.