Arkansas' 2011 budget for Pre-K flat funded, not protected from further cuts

Southern states are in danger of losing critical, hard-earned gains in early childhood education - the South's most effective innovation in public education - if state legislatures in the region enact substantial cuts to pre-kindergarten programs (Pre-K), according to a report to be released on March 2 by the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) in Atlanta.

The South leads the nation in offering state-funded Pre-K to America's three- and four-year-old children. Southern states in 2008 provided Pre-K to 20 percent of the region's three- and four-year-olds --- double the rate in the rest of the nation. SEF also reports that Southern states lead the nation with indicators of high quality and educational impact. Six of the ten states with the highest standards for Pre-K quality are in the South.

The Southern Pre-K programs are the region's "comparative advantage in public education," according to Lynn Huntley, SEF's President, because high-quality Pre-K is the only area in which Southern states lead the nation in providing high-quality education to students. The SEF report cites a wide range of recent independent studies demonstrating Pre-K's positive effects on young children's learning in areas of language, literacy and math skills in Southern states.

"Today, proposed budget cuts jeopardize the significant gains that many state-supported Pre-K programs in the South have begun to provide in getting small children school-ready and capable of achieving at higher levels in future grades," Huntley stated. "It makes no sense, no matter how severe the economic crisis faced by Southern state and local governments, to make damaging reductions in the availability of quality pre-kindergarten services for children."

Southern legislatures are facing a collective shortfall of almost $30 billion in revenues, and many are considering deep cuts to education and related programs. In Virginia for example, legislators have submitted various budget amendments to cut or remove all state funds for the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI).  The annual state General Fund for VPI is $75 million. In Georgia, Governor Sonny Perdue is proposing to gut the Pre-K program's resource coordinators who work with low income families to increase parental involvement and family support.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has twice trimmed spending in the current 2010 fiscal year to make up for declining revenue. Funding for the 2011 overall budget will be slightly higher than the revised 2010 budget, but barely back to 2009 levels. Total spending on the state Pre-K program in Arkansas was not cut in 2010 because of a transfer of federal dollars to make up for a reduction in state general revenue support. Early childhood programs are not considered part of educational adequacy and thus are not as protected as K-12 education in the event that budget cuts are needed.

 "Pre-K is already doing more for less in the South," noted Steve Suitts, SEF's Vice President, and the report's author. "In most Southern states Pre-K is delivering the greatest impact for the least cost."  The SEF report points out that the costs per child for Pre-K are on average one-third less than K-12 per pupil expenditures. In Alabama, for example, Pre-K costs are closer to half the K-12 costs of public education.

"Southern states would save very little - practically nothing - from cuts to Pre-K," the SEF report states. Across the South, Pre-K programs make up about ½ of one percent of the states' entire budgets.  Georgia's Pre-K, one of the largest programs in the South, constitutes a little more than one percent of the state budget, but those funds come out of Georgia lottery revenues - not tax dollars. And the Georgia lottery has increased revenues and holds nearly $1 billion in reserves.

            SEF also reports that high-quality Pre-K will save revenues for states in the long run. In Louisiana, for example, for each dollar invested in high quality Pre-K, the state can realize as much as $8.20 in direct and indirect benefits over the next 40 years.

"The economic impact of Pre-K comes from the fact that high-quality Pre-K has a proven capacity to help a child from a low-income family stay on grade in school, stay out of trouble, graduate from high school, and continue to college. In this respect, a good job in the South in a global economy begins with Pre-K," SEF's Huntley stated.

            "In a world economy, a state can enlarge its income and quality of life only if it increases the high school and college education of its residents," observed Suitts. "Most of the South has been behind the nation in educational attainment primarily because too many students are not school-ready, never catch up, and drop out. Pre-K is where this cycle can be broken. It is one area where the South can not afford cutbacks." 

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            The Southern Education Foundation (SEF), the nation's oldest education philanthropy, has origins in 1867 when George Peabody established a fund to advance the education of all children in the Southern states in the aftermath of the Civil War. Today, SEF is a public charity with offices in Atlanta working region-wide to advance fairness and excellence in education.

            For more information on SEF or for an electronic copy of the report visit: www.southerneducation.org.   

The mission of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families is to ensure that all children and their families have the resources and opportunities to lead healthy and productive lives and to realize their full potential. Online at www.aradvocates.org.