California earned a lackluster rating on state spending, preschool access and program quality for early childhood education for the 2011-12 school year, according to the annual State of Preschool Report released Monday by the National Institute for Early Education Research.
Since early childhood education is not part of the K-12 system in most states, funding for and provision of the service varies widely. The annual report by the Rutgers University-based research organization is the only national study that gathers funding and policy data on early childhood education from each state and puts it into a comprehensive report that measures spending on a per-pupil basis.
“This is the thing we look to,” said Ernesto Saldaña of Early Edge California, an advocacy organization for early childhood education. “We get to compare with other states and see where we have to go.”
Among the 40 states that provide some form of state-funded preschool, California scored middling marks for both the public preschool access it provides and the amount it spends per enrolled child. Eighteen percent of 4-year-olds attend state-funded preschool programs in the state, and 9 percent of 3-year-olds do. By comparison, Florida sends 79.4 percent of its 4-year-olds to public preschool, the most of any state, but none of its 3-year-olds.
California spends an average of $4,136 per enrolled student. New Jersey, which pays preschool
