Dropping Knowledge
Yesterday, SAS CEO Dr. Jim Goodnight joined business leaders to announce the release of a new report by The National Institute for Early Education Research, titled “Barriers to Expansion of NC Pre-K: Problems and Potential Solutions.” The report found that 53 percent of eligible four-year-olds — almost 33,000 children — are not being served by NC Pre-K and set a goal of 75 percent enrollment of all eligible children.
The report notes that: “The overriding, fundamental barrier to expanding NC Pre-K is that revenues and other resources available to NC Pre-K providers are too often inadequate to cover the costs of expansion.” Evidence of that could be seen in 2017 when the state increased funding for additional slots and 44 counties declined any expansion funding.
The report makes several recommendations to reach the 75 percent goal, including:
- Increase reimbursement rates
- Supplement NC Pre-K teacher pay
- Increase the amount of funding that can be used to cover administrative costs
- Explore shifting NC Pre-K funding into the public school funding formula
We’ll see if these recommendations get taken up by the legislature this session. For more information, check out EdNC’s article on the report here.
For Your Consideration
As the shutdown shows no signs of stopping, news outlets across the country are reporting on its effects, including some here in North Carolina. An analysis from Governing reports that North Carolina has 44,192 civilian employees, of which 7,678 work in agencies not yet funded and thus are not being paid during the shutdown. These numbers do not include the many federal contractors who are not being paid and may not receive back pay.
NC Health News published an article yesterday looking at the impact of the shutdown on North Carolinians. EducationNC’s Reach NC Voices initiative surveyed North Carolinians this week, asking people if they or anyone they know is impacted by the shutdown. As of this morning, 35 percent said that the shutdown has impacted them or someone they know. To view the results, sign up to be part of Reach NC Voices here.
Contextual Healing
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation released a report this week that has received significant attention in the postsecondary world. One of the main findings is that community college students who transfer to selective four-year college and universities graduate at equal or higher rates than students enrolling directly from high school or transferring from other four-year institutions. Furthermore, community college transfer students have better outcomes when they transfer to more selective institutions.
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