LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas needs to continue to grow its publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs, Gov. Mike Beebe said Monday.
The governor spoke at an early childhood education conference in Little Rock that emphasized the economic benefits of spending on pre-kindergarten programs.
Beebe said getting more children enrolled in pre-kindergarten is key to the state's future from an economic development standpoint.
More pre-kindergarten programs would mean fewer dropouts, less college remediation, and ultimately, a more skilled work force, Beebe said. This, in turn, would make it easier to build industry in Arkansas and add jobs, he said.
"[Education and economic development] are joined at the hip. They are two sides of the same coin," Beebe said. "It's my job to plead and beg the General Assembly to fund, and to enhance where possible, this whole initiative."
Arkansas spends $113 million annually to provide pre-kindergarten for about 25,000 3- and 4-year-olds in the state, said Tonya Russell, director of the Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education.
Another 10,000 children get access to pre-kindergarten through the federal Head Start program.
The majority of all these students come from low-income families.
However, there are 26,000 more Arkansas children not enrolled in pre-kindergarten, Russell said.
To extend access to publicly funded pre-kindergarten to all children in Arkansas would cost an extra $118 million annually, she said.
Educators must emphasize the economic advantages of spending on pre-kindergarten, said Bill Millett, an economic and planning consultant from North Carolina who spoke at the conference.
Too many educators instead bombard the public with pictures of children playing with blocks when asking for more pre-kindergarten funding, he said.
"If you are trying to sell something on a warm and fuzzy basis today, that's a losing proposition," Millett said.
"We need to talk about pre-K in terms of work-force development and economic development and community development and America's position in the world going forward."
Tom Kimbrell, sworn in as the state's newest education commissioner Monday, said Arkansas is not in a position to pay for public pre-kindergarten for all children.
Instead, local school districts need to look to diverting money from other programs to offer pre-kindergarten to more Arkansans, he said.
For example, Kimbrell said, some federal dollars that schools spend on teacher bonuses and special tutors could be diverted to pre-kindergarten.
If pre-kindergarten isn't expanded in Arkansas and across the nation, U.S. children will continue to fall behind their peers abroad, Millett said.
And when it comes time to compete for jobs in the global economy, they'll be at a disadvantage, he said.
"While it's one of the best investments we can make, America has never ponied up," Millett said. "We are losing the knowledge race."
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7, 8 on 09/29/2009