A new federal grant will provide $15 million each of the next four years for Arkansas Better Chance (ABC), the state’s high-quality pre-K program. Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) and the Invest Early Coalition are grateful for the funding boost and excited about the new opportunities it will provide our early education system. The funding will allow Arkansas to serve about 2,241 new children and will give extra funding to existing programs. While this is a needed boost for pre-K in Arkansas, it’s not near enough to fix our early education financial crisis.

This grant comes at a time when ABC funding has not increased by one dime since 2008. A small portion (1,643) of the state’s 24,000 ABC slots will receive an increase. The majority of pre-k classrooms will continue to operate at 2008 funding levels. Increasing ABC funding during the upcoming legislative session remains critical for the health of our early education system and our future economy.

Pre-K funding in Arkansas has stayed flat while the cost of living has gone up. Normally, state-wide programs are given cost-of-living increases to keep up, but that hasn’t been the case with early education. AACF urges the 2015 Arkansas General Assembly to pass $16 million in additional funding in order to make up that difference. Without it, pre-k programs will struggle to keep good teachers or to even keep their doors open. High-quality early childhood education will help all Arkansas children succeed in the future.