RALEIGH (September 22, 2022) – NC Pre-K is an effective, nationally recognized program launched by former Gov. Mike Easley for at-risk 4-year-olds.
Yet, as researchers from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University found before the pandemic in 2018, it reached only 47% of eligible children. And 53% – nearly 33,000 4-year-olds – didn’t have access.
“NC Pre-K – one of the highest-quality programs in the United States with proven results for at-risk students – is reaching less than half the children it was designed to serve,” they wrote.
When the state increased support and funds for 1,750 more children were announced for the 2017-18 school year, more than 6,000 requests were made from 56 of North Carolina’s 100 counties.
And 44 counties – with thousands of eligible but unserved children – declined any expansion dollars.
Some couldn’t find enough teachers. Some couldn’t find space for a center. Seats in the program fell by almost a third during the pandemic in 2020, but have since rebounded almost to pre-pandemic levels.1
The program requires its teachers to have a four-year degree in early-childhood education. If an NC Pre-K center is housed within a public elementary school, an NC Pre-K teacher must be paid according to the state’s K-12 public school scale.
NIEER’s recommendations included increased reimbursements to centers and increased supplements for teachers to even out pay differences between public and private centers.
Such changes “should allow significantly more eligible children to access the program, laying solid foundations for their future success in school and beyond,” they wrote.2
NIEER – as well as a group of prominent North Carolina CEOs – set a goal for NC Pre-K to enroll 75% of eligible children in every county. Yet as of 2019, only 25% of NC counties met that goal.3
“As we look past recovery from the pandemic and toward a strong, sustainable economy – with an eye on equal opportunity for every North Carolinian – we must increase early literacy by implementing and expanding what we know works,” SAS CEO Jim Goodnight declared in April 2021.4
Meanwhile, state spending per child in NC Pre-K has fallen $731, from $6,086 in 2005 to $5,355 in constant 2020 dollars.5
It’s yet one more example where we must repeat 10 simple, one-syllable words to state officials: We need to pay the folks who teach our kids.
“We have a national model for high-quality pre-K. We know what works. Rather than pulling back, now is the time to strengthen our commitment to build upon the proven results of NC Pre-K,” Goodnight and state Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, wrote this year. “It’s important for our children and our state.”6
1 https://www.bestnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Facts-Figures-July-2022.pdf, p. 5.
2 https://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/NIEER_North_Carolina_2019.pdf.
3 https://www.bestnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Facts-Figures-July-2022.pdf, p. 6.
4 https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2021/04/ceos-a-moral-obligation-to-our-youngest-readers/.
5 https://www.bestnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Facts-Figures-July-2022.pdf, p. 41.
6 https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article259379479.html.
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