Funding Alert

Governor Corzine’s 2009 budget includes about a $17 million increase for preschool education. But it is unclear exactly how much of this amount will support the long overdue expansion of New Jersey’s highly successful Abbott Preschool Program to other low-income districts in the state or increase capacity to serve more children in the Abbott districts.

The Governor’s pledge to expand state funding of high quality preschool to all low-income districts was a big selling point that helped gain passage of the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA). SFRA requires that state-funded preschool be provided to all three- and four-year-olds in all A & B District Factor Groups (DFG) and all CD DFG where 40% or more of students are eligible for the free and reduced lunch program. Districts must enroll at least 90% of their preschool population by school year 2013-2014. Additionally, all other districts in the State will receive preschool education aid beginning in 2009-2010, to serve low-income children in a high quality preschool program.

The Governor’s budget summary claims "$26.9 million in increased funding for preschool programs for at-risk students," but this amount fails to reflect a $10 million decrease from 2008 funding levels for Preschool Quality Enhancement Grants. The $26.9 million for 2008-2009 includes at least $15 million for budgetary and inflationary increases for existing Abbott and non-Abbott preschool programs. It is not clear how the approximately $12 million in additional funding will be allocated, especially since both SFRA and the budget summary state that 2008-2009 will be a planning year for preschool expansion in non-Abbott districts. Full details of the Governor’s budget will be released in the coming weeks.

Education Law Center estimates that $224 million (at present dollar value) will be needed in 2013-2014 to implement SFRA’s requirement for full enrollment of all three- and four-year-olds in the State’s non-Abbott, low-income districts. That means the State will need to phase in significant new funds over the next five years in order to meet SFRA’s goal. SFRA does not specify a source of funding for preschool expansion and, considering the State’s current fiscal crisis, it is unclear how the State will reach this goal.

At the same time the Governor is proposing preschool expansion, enrollment in the constitutionally required Abbott Preschool Program has remained flat since 2003-2004, at approximately 75% of eligible children, well below the state’s enrollment benchmark of 90%. Neither SFRA nor the Governor proposes new funding or initiatives to rectify the causes of under-enrollment, including insufficient and inadequate preschool facilities and lack of outreach and recruitment to hard to reach families. This brings into question whether the State has given up on expanding access to preschool to the neediest children in the poorest school districts.