Zaina Cahill, director of early education policy at Children First PA, said she spends $15,600 on preschool in her Philadelphia neighborhood, which is more than the state average cost of $12,000. (Photo: Whitney Downard/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
Less than half or 44%According to Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, 3- and 4-year-olds in the state attend high-quality, publicly funded preschool. An estimated 84,000 children were left behind Black children are less likely to participate in high-quality programs.
Research shows that high-quality preschool education prepares children for kindergarten and beyond. Participants are less likely to go to prison later in life and more likely to graduate from high school.
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“Pre-K is one of the most cost-effective investments a state can make,” said Rep. Sean Dougherty (Philadelphia). “High-quality early childhood education lays the foundation for lifelong learning and better health outcomes.”
Dougherty is a co-sponsor House Bill 46which was the main topic of Tuesday’s meeting of the commission examining the benefits of using the universal pre-K preparation.
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Otis Bullock, CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Community Alliance, noted that low-income children are less likely to have access to early education resources and often start school behind their affluent peers.
“It is widely accepted that the trajectory of educational success is determined before a child enters kindergarten. The experiences that children undergo in the first months and years have a decisive impact on their neuropathological development,” Bullock said. “Early childhood education must be a key part of any strategy to improve education or economic development.
Latest analysis of the National Bureau of Economic Research reported that parents’ wages increased by almost 22% when families had access to universal preschool education, Bullock added. The study found that parents’ benefits outweigh government costs, with every dollar spent generating $10 in benefits.
Positive for families and schools
Preschool costs Pennsylvania families an average of more than $12,000 per year, but costs vary by region.
Zaina Cahill, director of early childhood education policy at Children First PA, said she spends $15,600 each year on her 4-year-old child who attends a low-performing classroom in Philadelphia.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to access a high-quality program in our area due to waitlists and costs. It cost $20,200, so it was quite prohibitive cost-wise,” Cahill said.
On the other hand, the Universal Pre-k program “would create a pathway for economic mobility for many families across the commonwealth because then they wouldn’t be spending $15,600 a year on child care,” Cahill said. “It would be money that could be spent on all kinds of things that would stimulate Pennsylvania’s economy.”
With more support, families may choose to have more children, Cahill added, which could add to the state’s ponderous population growth.
But Cahill and others warned that schools alone could not meet the state’s needs. For example, some districts only offer half-day kindergarten due to lack of available space.
“The Philadelphia school district couldn’t do all this alone and will need organizations like mine to help,” Bullock said. “So a mixed delivery system is probably the best way to address the entire commonwealth.”
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Tariq Khan (R-Philadelphia), would require school districts to provide preschool to all eligible children. Khan, however, called it an “opening gambit” that will evolve throughout the legislative process. He said achieving universal pre-school education in the commonwealth would “definitely” require a mixed approach.
“The goal is to get to a place where programs – whether they come from schools, nonprofits or other agencies… offer high-quality activities for preschool children and are available throughout the Commonwealth,” Khan said.
Schools, he said, would benefit “enormously” from having students with a high-quality pre-school education.
“It will mean that (negative) behaviors will decrease. It will mean less truancy (and) more engagement. Test scores will be higher,” Khan said. “It’s a positive result.”
A closer look at costs and expenses
Pre-K Counts covers costs for thousands of children ages three and older from families earning up to 300% of the federal poverty level (or $99,000 for a family of four). Children with special needs or learning English may also qualify.
Program cost $317 million under the 2024-2025 budget cover nearly 28,000 children, and almost all of the funding will go toward reimbursing providers. The state also allocated $91 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance program, which is an expansion of an existing federal program for families earning 100 percent of the federal poverty level ($33,000 for a family of four).
Some Philadelphia kindergartens say they will have to close classrooms if Pa.’s budget. will not be passed soon
Governor Josh Shapiro’s proposed spending plan raises both of these fundswhich adds $7.5 million to the former and $2 million to the latter.
Philadelphia expanded its free kindergarten offer more than eight years ago, outside state and federally funded programs, using beverage taxes. Though educational achievements remained stablethe program is there not without challenges.
Khan, who praised the improvements in his district since Philadelphia’s pre-K expansion, said prioritizing investments in quality education was a “very conscious decision” for the Democratic House majority, pointing to past state spending.
“We still have significant investment to make in our schools, but this is a priority,” Khan said. “When we invest in education, we know it is one of the wisest investments we can make.”
He also pointed to the need for additional sources of revenue – a common theme of Shapiro’s budget proposals. But as the governor seeks to legalize and tax recreational marijuana along with a tax on skill-based gaming, Khan pointed to taxes on natural gas companies and Pennsylvania’s wealthiest residents.
“The companies that are extracting it, for this rich gas that we have here in Pennsylvania, they are not paying their fair share,” Khan said. “We have an impact fee, but we don’t have a clearance fee. It’s not hundreds of millions of dollars, it’s billions of dollars for the Commonwealth that could be used to fund something like a universal pre-K program.”
Khan is a sponsor, along with lead sponsor Rep. Chris Pielli (R-Chester), of the company House Bill 2129 to create this severance tax. Texas — another immense natural gas-producing state — collected $2.13 billion in severance tax revenue in 2024, according to a note in the bill.
House Bill 833sponsored by Khan, would impose an additional tax on income over $1 million. Massachusetts has generated more than $2.2 billion through similar efforts, according to a note to the bill.
“Why can’t we do this here in Pennsylvania? We need to look at other sources of income that exceed what we currently provide. Because right now, working people are the ones who really have to shoulder the burden and it should be more equitable,” Khan said.
