Momentum is swinging in Gov. Kay Ivey’s direction as the Alabama School Readiness Alliance’s Pre-K Task Force just published its recommendations for 2018, reinforcing its support for her proposed expansion of the First Class Pre-K program.The details:
— Ivey earlier this month proposed a $23 million increase for the program in her FY 2019 education budget.
— “We recommend expanding Alabama’s high-quality, voluntary First Class pre-k program so that all families have the opportunity to enroll their four-year-olds,” the task force said.
— The decision is ultimately left up to the legislature.
— “The House Ways & Means Education Committee expects to take up the Education Budget in the next 1-3 weeks and anticipates that pre-k funding, as well as funding all levels of education, will be addressed at that time,” Rep. Bill Poole, chairman of the House Ways and Means Education Committee, told Yellowhammer News on Tuesday.
— Poole did not comment specifically about whether the committee plans to meet Gov. Ivey’s $23 million request.
— The National Institute for Early Education Research last year named Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program among the country’s best.
— Alabama’s program is so well-reputed that a film crew from Harvard University is working on a documentary about it, recently visiting Madison City’s First Class Pre-K Center.
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