Comparisons

Interesting article.

How Indiana Compares

State-funded programs for pre-K and full-day kindergarten vary by state. Some target students from low-income families or who have other risk factors for academic failure, while others aim to expand access to all students eventually. While some have expanded regular school funding to include younger students, other states have used money from lotteries or tobacco taxes.

The benchmark: Oklahoma -- The state has one of the most widely lauded early childhood education programs in the country. Since 1998, it has offered all districts money for pre-kindergarten students at the same level as kindergartners on a voluntary basis. Now 65 percent of all 4-year-olds attend a program supported by the state.

Full-day kindergarten also is optional for school districts. If they choose to offer it, Oklahoma nearly doubles the half-day kindergarten funding to compensate. Seventy percent of the state's 48,653 kindergartners now are in full-day programs.

Another leader: Georgia -- Georgia is one of nine states that require districts to offer full-day kindergarten.

Its Pre-K Program, begun in 1993, has expanded to 74,000 children this year -- 53 percent of the state's 4-year-olds. Georgia uses gives money from the state lottery to private pre-kindergarten providers and school districts on a voluntary basis for 6 ½ hours of instruction per day.

A study released this month by Georgia State University followed children from pre-kindergarten through the first grade. Though there are some weaknesses to address, the report says, students gained on their peers nationally in three of four language areas.

Preschool-- In Indiana, the federal Head Start program and state special education money provide preschool for some 3- and 4-year-olds, as required by federal law. But Indiana is one of nine states that do not have state-funded pre-kindergarten programs, according to Pre-K Now, a Washington-based advocacy group.

Some states -- including Georgia, Oklahoma, West Virginia and New York -- are working to expand their state-funded programs to provide access to all 4-year-olds.

Illinois currently provides pre-kindergarten to more than 64,000 students deemed at risk of failure and has expanded the program each of the last three years.

Next year all states combined will spend $2.5 billion on pre-kindergarten programs, according to Pre-K Now. Advocates say an important effect of state-funded programs is that pre-kindergarten instructors often are certified teachers.

Full-day kindergarten -- School districts in Indiana may opt to provide some full-day kindergarten classes, but the state does not provide extra money to pay for it. Typically districts use federal grants for at-risk students, apply for a piece of the state's $8.5 million kindergarten grant, charge parents tuition or dip into district funds.

Most states that help districts provide full-day kindergarten do not mandate that all children enroll in such programs. However, 28 states and the District of Columbia give schools as much money for kindergartners in full-day programs as they do for first-graders.