The National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University just came out with its State of Preschool Yearbook for the school year 2021-2022. How did New Jersey do?

We’re serving fewer three and four-year olds (as many states are, due to the pandemic) but we’re serving them really well. Yet we rate low on access—20th in the country– especially for three-year-olds. On the other hand, we rank #2 in the country for spending, beat only by the District of Columbia. The national average cost per pupil is $8,129.

The New Jersey profile (full text below) describes the three state preschool programs—the Preschool Expansion program (formerly the Abbott Preschool Program), the non-Abbott Early Childhood Program Aid, and the Early Launch to LIteracy (ELLI)–which served 46,895 youngsters at an average cost per pupil of $18,643. According to the analysis, we served 8,518 fewer children and spent $4,276 more per pupil than the previous year. From Politico: “when adjusted for inflation, state spending increased by 10 percent to $874.3 million since last year.”

How well are we preparing our low-income children for school?  According to NIEER’s press release, New Jersey met 8 of 10 quality standards benchmarks and is “an exemplar for strong class size, teacher to child ratio, and continuous improvement system policies.” However, New Jersey ranked 20th in the nation for access to pre-K for 4-year-olds and fifth for access for 3-year-olds.

Here is the full report:

During the 2020-2021 school year, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued, New Jersey preschool programs enrolled 46,895 children, a decrease of 8,518 children from the prior year. State funding totaled $874,274,717, up $78,127,692 (10%), adjusted for inflation, since last year. State spending per child equaled $18,643 in 2020-2021, up $4,276 from 2019-2020, adjusted for inflation. New Jersey’s programs met 8 of 10 quality standards benchmarks.

WHAT’S NEW
Governor Murphy allocated $26 million in new funding for preschool expansion during the 2020-2021 school year, marking the fourth year in a row of increased funding for state preschool. The NJ Department of Education (DOE) led two competitions to award school districts with funding to serve more children in high-quality, full-day preschool programs. Increased funding was also allocated to maintain the prior year expansion and provide a cost of living increase for all other existing preschool slots. Despite the increase in funding, overall enrollment decreased due to the pandemic.
At the end of the 2020-2021 school year, all school districts were operating under a hybrid model of in-person and virtual school. However, the state required all school districts to open for in-person instruction by the start of the 2021-2022 school year.

BACKGROUND
New Jersey funds three preschool programs. The largest and most intensive of the programs, formerly known as the Abbott Preschool Program and now referred to as the state’s Preschool Expansion program, served 44,815 children in 156 districts during the 2019- 2020 school year. These numbers include the original 31 Abbott districts as well as districts more recently approved to expand their preschool programs to meet Abbott standards. The NJ DOE funds eligible districts to provide a full-day program to all 3- and 4-yearolds who live in those districts and choose to enroll. Private child-care centers or Head Start programs that meet state standards may contract with districts to deliver services.

The (ECPA) program operates in districts where 20% to 40% of children met the criteria for free or reduced-price lunch when the program was established in the late 1990’s. New Jersey’s third program, formerly known as the Early Launch to Learning Initiative (ELLI), was established in 2004 as part of an effort to expand access to high-quality pre-K education to all 4-year-olds in low-income households across the state. There is some overlap between districts in the ECPA and ELLI programs, and some of these districts have recently elected to expand their programs in line with the former Abbott program.

Now that the original federal Preschool Development Grant (PDG) has phased out, New Jersey is using state funding to support former grant slots and further increase access in those districts. New Jersey’s overall support for state-funded preschool, including enrollment and funding for Abbott/Preschool Expansion, ECPA, and ELLI, is depicted in the first two pages of this state profile. The third page focuses solely on Abbott/Preschool Expansion, the fourth page provides information on ECPA, and the fifth on ELLI.

ACCESS:

Total state pre-K enrollment…………………………………………… 46,895
Special education enrollment, ages 3 and 4 …………………….. 12,501
Federally funded Head Start enrollment, ages 3 and 4 ……… 11,318
State-funded Head Start enrollment, ages 3 and 4……………………. 0

RESOURCES:
Total state pre-K spending …………………………………… $874,274,717
State Head Start spending …………………………………………………… $0
State spending per child enrolled…………………………………. $18,643
All reported spending per child enrolled* ……………………… $18,643