Pre-K legislation gets bipartisan support
Pre-K legislation has had bipartisan support during this session, but it was not without opposition. Similar legislation had been approved in previous administrations, but lawmakers provided no funding in the final budget.
Bredesen estimates that the money provided by the current legislation would be enough to triple the preschool pilot program of 3,000 students. The legislation also allows the governor to expand the program across the state as money becomes available.
The legislation gives priority to at-risk students, those who might be in danger of struggling to get through kindergarten and beyond. Department of Education spokeswoman Kim Karesh said at-risk students also are identified as those who qualify for free or reduced school lunches based on low family income.
Pre-K education has been a recent development, with the nation’s school systems and state governments wrestling with issues of improving academic achievement overall and narrowing an achievement gap linked to race and economic status. Targeting at-risk students with pre-K programs can be one means of closing that gap.
Basically, we agree with Bredesen, as he stated in a guest column earlier this month: “Early childhood education alone is not the silver bullet. We need to move in concert with initiatives such as fully funding K-12 education; focusing on teacher pay and meaningful, helpful professional development; calling on direct parent involvement; and bringing focused, intensive intervention to students who need help to graduate from high school. But early childhood education must serve as the foundation.”