Gov. Kay Ivey (R) and the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education announced that more children are going to get access to free pre-K instruction.
Passage of the largest Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget in state history means that the state will add 96 new nationally recognized pre-K classrooms in 35 counties this fall. This is just the first round of new classroom funding that will be released by the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education. Additional classrooms will be funded based on further evaluation of high-needs areas prior to the commencement of the 2022-2023 school year.
New classrooms will expand access to the state-funded, voluntary pre-kindergarten program to 26,658 children in the 2022-2023 school year, with more than 1,481 classrooms statewide, moving closer to Alabama’s goal of serving 70% of eligible four-year-old children.
The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) also announced that Alabama First Class Pre-K has once again been rated as the nation’s highest quality state pre-kindergarten program for the 16th consecutive year.
“Alabama’s First Class Pre-K has once again been recognized as a national model for delivering high-quality early childhood education that gives our youngest citizens a strong start to their educational journey,” said Ivey. “I am glad to see that even more students will have access to pre-K next year and look forward to the day that all Alabama families who want pre-K for their children have access.”
Dr. Barbara Cooper is the Secretary of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education.
“We are excited to serve an additional 1,728 students in our First Class Pre-K program in the coming year,” said Cooper. “We are thrilled that Gov. Ivey and our state leaders continue to invest in early childhood education, supporting Alabama First Class Pre-K in maintaining all 10 NIEER quality benchmarks for 16 years running. Leaders across the state recognize the benefits of high-quality pre-K. Thank you to the organizations within the early learning mixed delivery system who have stepped up to partner with us to provide this valuable opportunity in all 67 counties.”
The Department of Early Childhood Education says that Alabama leads the nation in ensuring pay parity while expanding program access. Alabama’s strong policies result in high-quality learning experiences and teaching. The NIEER State of Preschool Yearbook summarizes progress nationally and state profiling of interstate variation in state pre-K enrollment, spending and 10 benchmarks that support quality.
The 2021 NIEER State of Preschool annual report, based on 2020-2021 academic year data, finds that across the country state funding for preschool declined by 3%. However, in Alabama, funding increased as the Alabama Legislature approved a budget increase for the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education for fiscal year 2023. That increase includes $22.5 million for the Office of School Readiness that administers First Class Pre-K.
The Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education said that it will continue to ensure pay parity for all First Class Pre-K teachers with the same pay raise as K-12 public school teachers in the upcoming school year.
The pre-K classrooms are funded through a grant process in which sites must meet specific quality assurances and abide by rigorous operating guidelines.
Critics of pre-K argue that even though Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program has been awarded the highest quality rating by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) for 16 consecutive years, it has not contributed to any noticeable improvement in state education rankings where Alabama’s fourth-graders consistently test as among the worst performers in the entire country in both reading and math. Pre-K skeptics argue that children who do not attend pre-K eventually catch up to their peers by the end of fourth grade.
To learn more about First Class Pre-K click here.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandon.moseley@1819News.com.
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