A new report on U.S. pre-K programs ranked Georgia ninth in the nation for the percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled at 56%, but 25th for state spending per child at $5,646.
Researchers with the National Institute for Early Education Research found Georgia meets eight out of 10 quality benchmarks and predicted a nearly $100 million increase in pre-K spending awaiting Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature will give Georgia youngsters a good head start.
According to the institute’s 2023 State of Preschool Yearbook, released Thursday, class sizes and child-to-staff ratios kept the state from a perfect score. The authors dinged Georgia for its maximum class size of 22, above the benchmark of 20, and the staff-to-child ratio of 1 to 11, when the recommendation is 1 to 10. Five states met all 10 benchmarks, which also include requirements like teacher training and professional development and vision and hearing screenings for students. The five states are Alabama, Hawaii, Michigan, Mississippi and Rhode Island.
Georgia lawmakers increased the allowed class size from 20 to 22 children for the 2012 school year in the aftermath of the Great Recession. The 2025 budget lawmakers approved last month is intended to fix that with an increase of $97 million for the lottery-funded program. Kemp has until May 7 to review and sign legislation, including the budget.