Enrollment in state-funded Tennessee preschool has declined

Nationwide, the COVID-19 pandemic erased a decade’s worth of progress in enrollment at state-funded preschools, according to the the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University.

NIEER released its “The State of Preschool 2021” report Tuesday, finding that enrollment in state-funded preschool declined for the first time in two decades.

In Tennessee, enrollment was down by 16%, or over 2,800 students, from the 2019-2020 school year.

The overall report shares the organization’s evaluations of preschool enrollment and funding across the country and state-by-state during the 2020-2021 school year—the first year fully impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Enrollment of 4-year-olds declined from 34% to 29%, while enrollment of 3year-olds declined from 6% to 5%. NIEER called it “the largest decline since the Great Recession.”

“Nationwide enrollment in statefunded pre-k declined by more than a quarter-million children from the prior year,” the report said. “All but six states with state-funded preschool programs experienced enrollment declines, and in some states, enrollment decreased by more than five percentage points.”

Tennessee ranks 29th of the 50 states in the percentage of 3-year-olds enrolled in state-funded preschools at 1%, 30th in the percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled at 18%, and 29th in resources based on state

spending.

While spending declined in some states, many states kept spending the same or even increased it with help of COVID-19 relief funds. Tennessee maintained preschool funding levels, according to the report.

The report’s authors stressed the importance of solutions to curbing the longterm impact of this enrollment dip, like the passage of the president’s Build Back Better initiative and small match grants for states and local districts, federal investment in research to “mitigate health risks from COVID-19,” and states’ expansion of access to quality pre-k for underserved students.

“We’re certainly seeing momentum in the states,” Barnett said Monday. “Cities and states are moving ahead and making a commitment to universal pre-k, raising the money to do that and beginning to move forward. But that’s not everywhere and really Congress is the group that can help every state move ahead. “

At a news conference Monday, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said a focus on preschool and the pandemic’s impact on it is crucial.

“As a former elementary school teacher I can tell you, preschool matters. As a parent, I can tell you without a doubt, preschool matters,” he said. “There’s tremendous evidence that the strong start provided by quality early childhood education has a range of long-term benefits for our children both inside and outside the classroom.

“We’ve been talking about following the science for the last two years. Let’s follow the science on what our youngest learners need.”

Anika Exum, 615-347-7313