As co-chairs of the Alabama School Readiness Alliance Pre-K Task Force, we are grateful for the Alabama Power Foundation’s investment and support of Alabama’s high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten program. Due to Alabama Power’s willingness to supplement the state’s allocation, families in Fairfield will have more opportunities to enroll their children in a high-quality pre-kindergarten program than ever before.
Alabama’s voluntary First Class Pre-K program is among the nation’s highest quality programs, but it lags behind other states for lack of access. At the start of the current school year, only 12 percent of Alabama’s 4-year-olds could participate in one of the state’s 410 First Class programs.
Investing in high-quality pre-k is not only the right thing to do; it is the smart thing to do. According to research from the nonpartisan Public Research Affairs Council of Alabama, every Alabama third grader who attended First Class Pre-K scored proficient or above in reading last year. Additionally, PARCA found that First Class closes the achievement gap for lower income students by as much as 29 percent. This shows that a strong, voluntary pre-k program is one step our state must take if we want to develop a college- and career-ready workforce.
Our Task Force is now in its third year of a decade-long campaign to fully-fund Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program. Visit alabamaschoolreadiness.org to find out how you can take action to bring more high-quality pre-k classrooms to your community.
Bob Powers, co-chair, Alabama School Readiness Alliance Pre-K Task Force
President, The Eufaula Agency
Mike Luce, co-chair, Alabama School Readiness Alliance Pre-K Task Force
President & COO, Harbert Management Corporation
