Percentage-wise, Utah has more preschoolers than any other state, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released today.
Yet even with 247,801 kids younger than 5 years old making up 9.7 percent of the state's population, Utah has no state-funded preschool program.
Utah is one of 10 states that lack such programs, according to an April report from the advocacy group Pre-K Now. Utah also is one of five states that do not invest in Head Start, although that federal program does work with disadvantaged children here.
At the same time, a record 29 state governors want to boost or create preschool programs with a combined $800 million, states the report "Leadership Matters: Governors' Pre-K Proposals Fiscal Year 2008." That would give preschool access to more than 100,000 additional children nationwide.
Nationally, children younger than 5 years old make up 6.8 percent of the population, as many states are seeing fewer births and aging baby boomers, according to the July 1, 2006, census estimates.
However, it's a different story in Utah. The state is currently experiencing record birthrates as baby boomers' children become parents, said Pamela Perlich, senior research economist at the University of Utah. The state's growing Hispanic population also has a high fertility rate and is adding to the trend, she said.
"The babies being born now will be the biggest generation ever born (in Utah)," Perlich said.
Meanwhile, Utah's compulsory education law doesn't require children to attend kindergarten, and early childhood education hasn't been a legislative funding priority in a state where demographers say the birthrate isn't expected to decline anytime soon.
To help address the needs of those children, the Legislature this year gave $30 million for optional, full-day kindergarten programs targeted at disadvantaged children over the next four years. Research shows full-day kindergarten narrows achievement gaps between whites and ethnic minorities, the haves and have-nots.
More than a dozen school districts had offered full-day kindergarten using federal dollars. Some school districts now offer preschool. Salt Lake City has it in 19 schools, and Granite offers 60 preschool classes. The classes are generally funded with a mix of parent fees and Title I dollars for low-income schools.
The Utah Legislature this year considered a bill about a kind of preschool. The bill sought a cheaper alternative to publicly funded preschools by giving parents resources to prepare kids for kindergarten on their own. It was backed by the state Board of Education.
"With these issues, it's always a funding question," said Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, who sponsored the bill. Utah has the nation's highest birthrate and the lowest per-student funding in the country. "This year, the all-day kindergarten funding was put ahead of the (preschool)."
Stephenson's proposal would have paid for one preschool specialist for every 400 kids to reach out to all families and help those who are disadvantaged understand how to access available services, including Head Start preschool programs. He says he will carry a similar bill next year.
"This is an exciting model and may in fact produce better results than full-time preschool programs funded by other states," Stephenson said. "If children are in day care, parents have made that decision, and we don't want to set up a competing preschool" or say, "the state has plenty of money, let us pay for that instead."
Salt Lake Superintendent McKell Withers supports Stephenson's proposal, "but it has to be bigger than that" to reach all kids, he said.
"With that age group, it's a wonderful opportunity to invest in them becoming lifelong learners," Withers said. "Prevention always pays off in the long run."
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