Report finds preschool access expanded in Mass. and across country last year

The number of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in state-funded preschool in Massachusetts rose in the 2022-23 school year, reversing a decline seen in the previous year.

According to a new report from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), 4,509 more kids attended preschool last school year than the year before, bringing enrollment totals to roughly 33,000.

Forty-three other states also saw enrollment increases in programs, according to the annual NIEER State of Preschool report released Thursday.

"The states have emerged, albeit unevenly, from the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and are poised to make progress toward more effective and equitable preschool policies," states the executive summary.

Massachusetts performs well when it comes to preschool access for 3-year-olds: 16% of kids were enrolled in a public program versus 7% nationally. But the commonwealth loses a little ground when it comes to 4-year-olds, enrolling 28% of that age group in public preschool programs versus 35% nationally.

The NIEER report ranked Massachusetts particularly low among states in terms of spending on preschool. In the 2022-2023 school year, the state spent about $64 million — the fifth-lowest figure in the country. Average spending per child was $1,939 compared with a national average of $7,275.

"[One might] think of Massachusetts as an education leader," said report co-author Allison Friedman-Krauss. "But we're not really seeing that in the preschool front."

Friedman-Krauss did credit the state for proposed new investments such as Gov. Maura Healey's Gateway to Pre-K initiative, which plans to distribute roughly $39 million between the state's 26 "Gateway" cities and towns to help expand free and low-cost preschool to 4-year-olds by the end of 2026 through community collaborations between public school programs and private child care centers.

Some advocates in Massachusetts say the state is not lagging as much in preschool spending as the NIEER report makes it seem.

"Part of the problem is that we don't have a state-funded preschool program in the way that it's defined in other states," said Amy O'Leary, executive director of the nonprofit Strategies for Children.

In Massachusetts, local cities and towns spend a significant amount of money to support free preschool. Boston, for example, announced in 2022 a $20 million investment to expand preschool programming and universal pre-K.

Both O'Leary and Friedman-Krauss also highlighted the fact that while some states offer free preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old, the time that kids are in class varies widely. For Vermont's universal pre-K program, the state funds a minimum 10 hours of programming per week.

"It's hard for a working parent to use that unless they're paying for the rest of the day or picking their kid up in the middle of the day and finding another source of child care," said Friedman-Krauss.

In Massachusetts, multiple large, free preschool programs offer to six hours per day. The state's Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative, a preschool expansion grant program launched in 2020, is helping more communities stretch their free preschool programs to full 6-hour days.

Massachusetts also met six out of 10 of NIEER's quality benchmark standards, including having comprehensive early learning and development standards, professional development for staff and class size limits of 20 kids or fewer.

However, Massachusetts did not meet other quality benchmarks, including requiring that all preschool teachers have a bachelor's degree or offering vision, hearing and health screenings. Only five states check off all 10 items: Hawaii, Alabama, Mississippi, Michigan, and Rhode Island, according to the report.