Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has been forced to sharply curtail his goal of providing taxpayer-funded pre-kindergarten classes for all commonwealth children, unveiling a less ambitious plan Thursday.
The Kaine initiative, called Strong Start, would fund preschool classes for an additional 17,000 4-year-olds by the year 2012, when it is fully funded. That would cost $75 million.
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The expansion would mean that about two-thirds of pre-K students would be enrolled in classes paid for by the commonwealth by 2012.
Kaine had campaigned on making the program universal before he left office in 2010, but budget realities forced him to limit the expansion’s scope.
Covering all 4-year-olds would cost between $300 million and $500 million, officials have said. The state ended fiscal 2007 with a $200 million deficit, and the problem could worsen in the coming budget cycles.
Many legislators have questioned the fiscal wisdom of covering preschool for every child regardless of family income. But it had been a high priority for Kaine.
“We know a lot more today about a child’s brain development than we did 50 years ago, and research tells us that 90 percent of a child’s brain development occurs by age 5,” Kaine said at an education summit in Richmond. “Increasing access to high-quality preschool programs will mean that more of Virginia’s children are ready to learn when they enter kindergarten, giving them a better chance for success throughout their K-12 experience.”
About 12,500 4-year-olds already receive state-funded preschool, which costs $50 million a year. To qualify, the child must come from a family with a household income of less than $26,845 (the income requirement for the commonwealth’sfree school lunch program).
Lawmakers also are concerned about Kaine’s intention to provide state funding to private and parochial programs willing to accept the low-income children. Although including those operations will reduce startup costs, it also raises the issue of providing state dollars to religious institutions.
“By including private providers and faith-based facilities, we can make smarter use of our resources, focusing on quality programs rather than on bricks and mortar,” Kaine said.
