The Impact of Universal Pre-K on Child Care Providers in FWISD 2014 Florida13 The State of Florida offers voluntary universal pre-k to all 4-year-olds. Florida pre-k is provided in a variety of settings such as public schools, licensed child care centers, accredited non-public schools, accredited faith based centers, and licensed family child care homes. Program length is left to each school district’s discretion, but most programs are typically 3 hours during the school year and 8 hours during the summer. More than 80% of the children are provided services in non-public school settings. Florida also provides a summer program totaling 300 instructional hours per student. In 2013, 78% of all Florida 4-year-olds were enrolled in pre-k with an average annual cost per pupil at $2,242. West Virginia14 West Virginia implemented universal pre-k in the 2012-2013 school-year. The program is available in all counties with the number of instructional hours varying from 4.2 to 8 hours depending on district preference. Half of the public pre-k programs are required to partner with Head Start agencies, private pre-k and child care centers. As of 2013, 75% of classrooms were in collaboration with community partners. 62% of all 4-year-olds were enrolled in pre-k with an average annual cost per pupil at $5,894. Texas15 The State of Texas rolled out public pre-kindergarten in 1985. Each school district is required to offer pre-k classes to eligible children who qualify as “at-risk”. A school district may offer halfday or full-day pre-kindergarten classes. Eligibility criteria includes homelessness, qualifying for a free or reduced-price lunch (185% of the federal poverty level), inability to speak or comprehend the English language, participation in foster care, or parent on active military duty or who has been injured or killed on duty. Pre-k is voluntary. School districts receive funding directly from the state and are encouraged to collaborate with licensed child care centers and Head Start programs to provide preschool services. Both state and local funds finance the Texas public school pre-kindergarten program. Only 22% of Texas school districts offer public pre-k. Non-eligible children are able to register at the discretion of the district if parents pay tuition or the district uses other funding sources. In 2013, 52% of all 4-year-olds were enrolled in public pre-k with an average annual cost per pupil at $3,311.
Benchmarking: Impact of Universal Pre-K Amid abundant policy research on public pre-kindergarten, the economic impact of universal pre-k on the private child care industry is rarely addressed. With government provision of public pre-k, a new competitor is introduced to child care market. This addition may reduce 4year-old enrollment among private child care providers, effectively “crowding them out” of the 13 14 15
(Barnett, 2013) (Barnett, 2013) (Barnett, 2013)
12 | P a g e
