DENVER—A national report ranks Colorado among states with the lowest enrollment in preschool programs.
The report by the Washington-based Pre-K Now found that about 15 percent of 4-year-olds and 3 percent of 3-year-olds were enrolled in the Colorado Preschool Program in 2007. The program targets low-income and at-risk families.
The report says Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Ohio and Kansas are the states at the bottom in terms of enrollment and program quality. The report said Oklahoma, West Virginia, Illinois, Tennessee and Arkansas have the best quality state-funded programs.
Budget constraints were cited as a reason for Colorado’s low quality and enrollment in such programs. Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien said the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which became a constitutional amendment in 1992, limited the expansion of state-funded preschool programs.
TABOR restricts state spending to a formula based on inflation and population growth. Legislators later passed Amendment 23, which calls for annual one-percent increases in education funding until 2010.
Ritter also signed legislation last year to freeze residential property taxes in school districts where the taxes are expected to decline to increase public education funding. The state expects it could raise $1.7 billion for education in the next 11 years. The law was challenged in court by Republicans who called it a tax increase that needs voter approval under TABOR.
Ritter appealed, and Colorado’s Supreme Court is expected to take up the issue.
The report said Colorado’s education funding will increase by $21 million in 2009.
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Information from: The Gazette,
