News Releases

Florida Among Many States Facing Disastrous Cuts to Early Childhood Programs

Pre-K Programs in Jeopardy

MIAMI, FL – The State of Florida, along with other southern states, is in danger of losing critical, hard-earned gains in early childhood education, according to a report released today by the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) in Atlanta. Currently, Florida is one of the states leading the nation in state-funded Pre-K for 3 and 4 year olds and also is leading educational impact. Yet, State Legislatures are facing a major shortfall in revenues and projecting deep cuts to education and related programs.

“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.”  

Unfortunately, Florida is coming up short, nearly $147 million short. That is the expected shortfall for the state’s early learning programs, which include child care and voluntary Pre-K. These programs that jumpstart our children’s education by preparing them to enter and succeed in school, that teach youngsters to recognize letters and sounds, to engage in healthy play, become capable of achieving at higher levels in future grades, as well as a host of other critical skills that they’ll use the rest of their lives, are in jeopardy.

Florida is being asked to meet citizens’ needs for services with less money, and legislators must decide how to manage a $3 billion budget gap. Florida’s allocation per child to provide the constitutionally mandated voluntary pre-K is already the lowest-base allocation in the nation. Florida currently pays $2,575 per child – compared with Oklahoma ($3,966) and Georgia ($4,249), for example. This critical program benefits 156,000 pre-kindergartners and employs 6,000 at schools around the state in school readiness programs.

“Less money per child means fewer qualified teachers, fewer books, fewer resources – inferior education,” said Modesto E. Abety, president and CEO of The Children’s Trust. “When Florida voters mandated the creation of VPK in 2002 their message was clear: Our children have the right to quality education. Cuts further sacrifice quality – and cheat our children.”

Today we know more than ever how young children develop and how to best support early learning. Ninety percent of a child’s brain develops before they reach five, and skimping on funding for early education programs now will result in far costlier problems later – an increase in high-school drop-out and juvenile detention rates, and worse.

Florida’s voluntary Pre-K and other school readiness programs have proved successful in addressing the educational achievement gap in recent years. The program has expanded as families have taken advantage of the opportunities provided. Enrollment has grown; nearly 16,000 children will be added to the 156,000 currently served, according to projections. If these shortfalls are not remedied, per child funding allocation for the VPK program could potentially drop as much as 27 percent to $1,890.

States face the challenge of making sure that all children are ready to learn, yet at-risk infants and young children are especially vulnerable to sliding down the educational achievement gap, a gap that begins long before they enter kindergarten. Closing this gap between poor and other children requires continued attention to the earliest learning environments, beginning at birth and continuing through the preschool years.

For more information on SEF or for an electronic copy of the report visit:
http://tinyurl.com/sef-PreKReport


The Children’s Trust is a dedicated source of revenue established by voter referendum to improve the lives of children and families in Miami-Dade County.


Editor’s Note: A list of projected shortfalls for the State of Florida is available upon request.