Arkansas voters overwhelmingly support making quality early childhood education available for the state’s preschool population.

According to a recent poll of registered Arkansas voters, 75 percent think public schools or state-supported programs should make early childhood education available for all 3- and 4-year-olds.

The poll was commissioned by Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families (AACF) and the Good Faith Fund (GFF), partners in the Arkansas Working Families Project. Conducted in February by Opinion Research Associates, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

The poll supports a May 2001 ruling by Judge Collins Kilgore in the Lake View School District v. Governor Mike Huckabee et al. Kilgore ruled the state should make early learning programs available for preschool-aged children. He based his ruling on three findings concerning the need for early childhood education:

1. a substantial number of children are entering kindergarten and first grade significantly behind their peers;
2. those children entering first grade needing remediation will have a difficult time performing at grade level by the third grade; and
3. if a student cannot perform at grade level, especially in reading, by the third grade, then he is unlikely to ever do so.

Judge Kilgore’s ruling requires the state take steps to remedy the situation. “The only possible conclusion is that in order to provide our children with an adequate education …, the State must forthwith provide programs for those children of preschool age that will allow them to compete academically with their peers. The urgency of this need equals that of the deficiency in teacher salaries.”