GA+Pre-K+Program+and+the+Cut+of+Funding+by+Christopher+Brunson

Overview What is a Pre-K Program?

In 1993, Georgia became the first state to offer its residents universal Pre-Kindergarten program. According to Georgia headquarters [|Bright from the start] Georgia Pre-K program has become very popular and at that time enrolled 84,000 children four years of age by September 1 of the current school year. This program is a free program which is voluntary for children to attend before entering kindergarten. The Pre-K program has been funded by the Georgia Lottery. The Pre- K program is usually operated on a regular school system calendar and is usually housed in the location of either a local public school system location or by private providers building.

What’s Georgia got to do with it?

More than one million children have completed Georgia’s free Pre-K program since it began. Governor Nathan Deal made some changes to the Pre-K program in 2011. These changes were the following:


 * School day reduction from 180 to 160 days
 * Class sizes went from 22 to 20 with an 11 to 1 ratio because classes have a paraprofessional
 * 2000 slots were added to make the enrollment for the state to be 86,000 children
 * Operational funds was reduced to 94% of current funds
 * When the program changed teachers received 90% of the current salaries which was a pay decrease.

How to enroll a child?

In order to enroll a child, one must provide proof that child is eligible and proof of residency. In order to provide this one must provide one of the following: Birth Certificate, passport, hospital records, green card, pink card, or Federal I-94 card. Also one must provide proof of residency as well. Lastly before a student can enroll they must have a hearing, vision, and dental examination. Most importantly their immunizations records must be up to date.


 * Trend or Issue? **

With Georgia’s pre-k funding having to endure budget cuts, it is becoming evident that students are falling behind in developmental skills. According research and studies, the Georgia Pre-K program have shown increases graduation rates, lowers welfare dependency and reduces incarceration rates. Georgia has joined only 4 other states in attaining 10 quality benchmarks and has been working on improving teacher qualifications. The Pre-k program was ranked fourth in the nation for enrollment. According to the [|National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER)] Georgia was evaluated in the 3 areas of access, quality, and resources. When discussing the component of access as it relates to evaluation of the program, access deals with the percentage number of 3- and 4-year-olds who are enrolled in the program. Quality is judged off teacher education levels, small class sizes, and manageable teacher-to-student ratios. Lastly resources are based on the amount of money spent on each child.

Sixty-six percent of all four year olds in Georgia are enrolled in the Pre-K program. According to NIEER, Georgia has showed a strong progress in improving the quality of early education over the last 10 years. However, it seems as if no one paid attention to the great impact this program has had but instead funds are being cut. One must look at the positive and negative effects mentioned. As a high school teacher working in special education; it has been a consistent problem. Those students who did not attend a Pre-k program really lack the needed skills for their own grade level. A lot of the high school children are on elementary grade level in reading and math and one the first questions that a teacher may ask a struggling student would be, "Were you involved in a pre-k program?" The most popular answer to this question would be "No." The lack of having the necessary skills causes some students to being the class clown and making all kinds of classroom distractions. So these students develop a constant pattern of behavior problems. Most high school teachers feel as if it is sometimes too late to positively impact these students because they have had so many negative experiences in school that have caused poor habits. Therefore pre-K education can be seen as a valuable building block for a strong educational foundation. So with Pre-K teachers feeling that it is important for students to learn during these years makes it that a student educational journey will be less nerve-racking throughout their lives. These teachers put in a lot of time and effort so that they can help their students to become life-long learners and not become so affected with the negatives of not being in a structured pre-k program. Not only are the teachers affected but the students are affected as well because there aren’t enough slots to enroll students. In Muscogee County this issue is very relevant. There are currently 53 Pre-K classes with a total of 1020 four-year-olds being served in the MCSD each year. There are always more children seeking spaces in Pre-K than there are slots available. For that reason, the school system uses a lottery process as the fairest method of filling classes. But there are still a lot of children who could benefit that gets left out. We must find a way to put money back into the Pre-Kindergarten system.

Annotated Bibliography Badertscher.Nancy. (2011). Slow lottery sales hit Georgia Pre-k program.Atlanta: Atlanta Journal Constitution. Retrieved from [].

In this article, it mentions that since Georgia lottery funds the pre-k program, it has been hit hard by a decrease in those individuals playing lottery. In result it has cause the state to lose slots for pre-k funding due to the lack of money. It talks about since it is a cut that teachers are moving out of pre-k into elementary settings.

Carnes,Stephanie. (2011). Changes in Georgia Pre-k program.Atlanta: Atlanta Journal Constitution. Retrieved from [].

In this article, it mentions that since Georgia pre-k program statistics and the cuts and adds that have been made due to less funding for the program.

Daimond,Laura. Badertscher, Nancy. (2011). Deal unveils cuts for Hope, pre-k.Atlanta: Atlanta Journal Constitution. Retrieved from [].

In this article, it mentions that since Georgia lottery funds the pre-k program, and the fact that school hours are cut from 6.5 hours to four hours daily. It also mentions that the program is still free but has increase enrollment but has cut down instructional times.

Georgia Department of Economic Development. (2012). Education in Georgia.Atlanta. Retrieved from [].

This document gives information on Georgia pre-k program has served over a million students since its existence. This sites hits on the points that an increase in graduation rate, low welfare dependency, and reduce incarceration rates.

Learning, G. D. (2007). Bright from the start Georgia Pre-kindergarten .Atlanta, Georgia. Retrieved from [].

This document gives information on Georgia pre-k program in a whole. It talks about Georgia Bright from the Start Georgia department of early child care. This provides a foundation for Georgia pre-k program. This document tells of what standards students should be learning as it relates to math reading, language, social studies, science, and even social and motor skills as well. It hits on instructional strategies that should be implemented in the classroom as well. It evens hit on quality outcomes and school readiness as well.

Muscogee County Public Education Center. (2012). Pre-Kindergarten.Columbus, Georgia. Retrieved from[].On this scholarly website, there is information on the local pre-k education in Columbus, Georgia. This site entails information about what an individual needs in order to be chosen as a candidate. It also gives locations of where pre-K programs are housed and what teachers are in the classrooms at those sites. This site also reveals other resources and links that can be used to find out other information about Georgia pre-k program.

Rickman. Dana. (2012). Top Ten Issues to watch in 2012: Atlanta. Retrieved from __ [|https://docs.google.com/a/columbusstate.edu/viewera=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.3&thid=1372811748448e69&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/ui%3D2%26ik%3D6d01f2dddf%26view%3Datt%26th%3D1372811748448e69%26attid%3D0.3%26disp%3Dsafe%26realattid%3Df_h1xq8mtk2%26zw&sig=AHIEtbQyO_a2GYjNGs_kDZWV2HA_yKr2sQ&pli=1]. __ In this article it talks about what has happened to Georgia Pre-K program and the fact that Georgia applied for a grant and didn’t received funds due to not having things in place. It also hits on some pros and cons of having a pre-k program. It mentions that due to the lack of funds that Georgia has had to cut slots, support staff, and even days that students go to school.

Proposal Addressing this Issue: = =