“When you think of America’s western mountain states, what comes to mind? Wide, open spaces? Majestic peaks? Infinite blue skies? Pervasive lack of investment in pre-K?”
“Five states—Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Wyoming—still do not provide any state funding towards pre-K. And all but one of the five are in the mountainous west.”
“This region’s failure to act on pre-K may be accounted for by a combination of the following factors:
• Political and cultural values that put an emphasis on libertarian ideals of government
• Low percentage of children in single-parent households
• Low poverty rates
• Low population density
“While none of these factors alone can explain these states’ lack of investment in pre-K, taken together, they may help to describe the unique environment that exists there—one that lends itself to inaction when it comes to pre-K.”
“One Part of the Country Still Doesn’t Invest in Pre-K. Here’s Why.” By David Loewenberg, New America Weekly, October 20, 2016
Eye on Early Education focuses on the twin goals of ensuring that Massachusetts children have access to high-quality early education and become proficient readers by the end of third grade.
I’m not surprised that New Hampshire doesn’t provide funding for pre-k education. There are many challenges around supporting education having said that I’m delighted to share that the school I work in has a wonderful pre-k program for 3 and 4 year olds. Yeah!