Pre-K has high-powered support for more money

The two top members of the state House, Speaker Jon Burns and Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, are seeking a big boost in funding for the state’s prekindergarten program.

They want to inject about $100 million in the program, with that money coming from the Georgia Lottery.

The pre-K program serves two purposes: First, it’s seen as foundational for education. But it also frees parents to go to work.

The program has faced years of flat funding, and that has made it difficult to hire and keep teachers.

“An assistant teacher today earns $20,000. She or he could make more working full time at Target,” said Jones, who led a study committee that examined the program’s needs.

She and Burns want to raise assistant teachers’ pay to $25,700, the same base amount that a K-12 paraprofessional earns.

Rising costs, including for staff, are also limiting how many children can participate in the program.

The state pays for 84,000 pre-K slots, at $5,284 per child, but just over 73,000 are taken.

Gov. Brian Kemp is also seeking more money for the program.

He included an additional $11 million in his budget proposal to start reducing class sizes to 20 kids per teacher, back to the ratio in place over a decade ago.

The current 22 students per teacher is larger than the average kindergarten class and was set during cutbacks in 2011-12 following the Great Recession.

Kemp’s budget proposal, which also includes some pay raises, would boost the current pre-K budget from $460 million to $490 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1.

OLIVIA BOWDOIN/AJC Georgia House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones led a committee that examined the pre-K program and found its flat funding has made it difficult to hire and keep teachers. “An assistant teacher today earns $20,000,” Jones said. “She or he could make more working full time at Target.”