PRE-K PROGRAMS NOW FOUND
IN 38 STATES, NOT IN RURAL

State-funded preschool programs for three and four-year-old children now serve over one million children in 38 states, but pre-K is still unavailable for most three and four-year-olds and is entirely missing in 12 states, some of them the most rural states in the nation. One-quarter of all four-year-olds and half of all three-year-old have no access to preschool education. A growing body of research has shown that quality preschool education for three and four-year-olds can improve key cognitive functions and social-emotional skills that are critical in school and in life. See details.

HOUSE, SENATE WOULD UP
EDUCATION FUNDING FOR FY09

The U.S. House and Senate approved FY2009 budgets that differ substantially from that proposed earlier by President George Bush, while following the Democrats’ promise to adopt a “pay-as-you-go” budget. Both the Senate and House committees gave priority to education, health care, veteran funding, and energy programs. See details.

14 MILLION SCHOOL CHILDREN
COME HOME TO EMPTY HOUSE

Some 14 million school-age children, 25 percent of the total, come home to an empty house or are on their own after school, including 40,000 kindergarteners. The parents of more than 28 million school-age children work outside the home, but only 6.5 million K-12 children participate in afterschool programs, making the hours between 3 and 6 p.m. the peak hours for juvenile crime and experimentation with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and sex. See article.