Signs of Trouble for State-Funded Pre-K

States spent $700 less per child on preschool during 2009-2010 than during the 2001-2002 school year, according to the new “State of Preschool 2010” report released today. This year’s report marks the first time that state funding for pre-k actually declined from the prior year since the National Institute for Early Education Research started tracking it.

“I think the general trends are, frankly, not encouraging,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said during a call with reporters yesterday. “I’ve said repeatedly and publicly, that I simply can’t support [a situation in which] our governors are cutting back on early education.”

Duncan added that he believes line-item cuts to be a particularly ineffective way to slash state budgets, even when states are deciding between which education programs to cut.

NIEER – an institute at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education – publishes the year book annually. This year’s report shows that after adjusting for inflation, state funding per child declined in 19 of 40 states with preschool programs in 2009-2010, and nine states cut per-child spending by more than 10 percent.

Full data from the 2010-2011 school year isn’t available yet, but the numbers aren’t likely to be much better, according to Steve Barnett, co-author of the report, yesterday.

But the news on preschool spending is not all bad. Some states did increase per-child pre-k spending in 2009-2010, and Connecticut, Maine and Vermont all increased spending by more than 10 percent.

Though enrollment of 3-year-olds decreased during 2009-2010, overall preschool enrollment (of 3- and 4-year-olds together) increased nationally by 26,996 children. Below is a map of overall enrollment by state:

It’s worth noting that spending isn’t everything: Florida, for example, managed to increase its per-child spending and enrollment from the previous year, but the quality of the state’s programs still  meet only three of NIEER’s ten quality standards, which include a focus on  teacher degrees, class sizes, and early learning standards.

“The problem in Florida isn’t quantity, it’s quality,” noted Barnett. “And that’s a big problem because spending on poor quality isn’t investment, it’s just spending.”

Early Ed Watch will continue looking at enrollment and spending on young children— watch for posts on full-day kindergarten funding and a podcast on pre-k spending in the next few weeks.