Alabama Pre-K enrollment down during pandemic, still highly-ranked by national group

The National Institute for Early Education Research’s annual report, released Monday, found Alabama is one of only six top-ranking states meeting benchmarks for curriculum standards, teacher training and class size. The other states were Michigan, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Hawaii and Missouri.

“Ensuring our youngest learners have a strong start to their educational journeys is important now, more than ever,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in a press release Monday.

Enrollment was down nationally for the 2020-21 school year as, according to NIEER, parents feared sending children to in-person school during the pandemic. Alabama’s program also saw lower enrollment and currently serves 18,906 students in 1,250 classrooms statewide.

Alabama’s state-funded program served 20,439 or 37% of eligible 4-year-old children in 1,039 classrooms across all 67 counties in both public and private settings during the 2019-20 school year.
On a press call, Ivey said children who participate in the program “demonstrate higher readiness with kindergarten, are less likely to be chronically absent, are less likely to be held back a grade, and are less likely to need special education services in k(indergarten) through 12.”
“Folks, these results speak for themselves and there is simply no better return on investment than high-quality early childhood education,” Ivey said.
While Alabama’s program is lauded for its high quality, access is a different issue.
Nationally, Alabama ranked 17th in the number of 4-year-olds who have access to the state’s program. And access is uneven statewide, with percentages of eligible 4-year-olds enrolled in the program varying from 14% in Lowndes and Shelby counties, to 90% in Butler County.
Alabama First Class Pre-K - 2019-20

This image shows the percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled in Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program in each county.

Ivey defended the program’s expansion rate.

“We’re making good steady progress,” she said, “and we have developed a plan where we can see our way clear to achieving our goal of 70% of all 4-year-olds being in the program by the year 2025.”
Alabama’s program does not serve any 3-year-olds, something NIEER has called for states to provide. Steven Barnett, the institute’s senior co-director, encouraged the state to consider further expansion.
Ivey has touted the state’s pre-K program as a way to improve education overall and has asked lawmakers for $151 million for the program for the coming year. She says that money would fund 1,452 classrooms and serve 44% of Alabama’s 4-year-olds.
Last month, the Senate approved the full request, but the education budget has not yet been taken up by the House.
In Alabama, average state spending per First Class Pre-K student was $6,008, up from $5,654 in 2018-19, but slightly lower than the $6,800 average per-student spending for kindergarten through twelfth grade in 2019-20. Nationally, state spending per pre-K student was $5,499 according to NIEER.