N.J. Legislative Committee Pushing to Expand Abbott Pre-K Program

Supports Full-Day Kindergarten Statewide

A New Jersey legislative committee is urging the State to expand the nationally acclaimed Abbott Preschool program to all preschoolers in an additional 77 low income school districts, providing high-quality early childhood educational opportunities to thousands more unserved children. Low-income children in all other districts in the State should also be given access to the state-funded preschool program, according to the committee report.

In addition, the committee is recommending state funding of full-day kindergarten as an incentive for districts throughout the state to offer the program. Only the State’s urban or "Abbott" districts are currently required to provide full day kindergarten.

On November 15, 2006, the bipartisan Joint Legislative Committee on Public School Funding Reform included prekindergarten expansion and support for full-day kindergarten as major recommendations in its final report. The Committee was one of four Joint Committees convened this past summer in a special session to enact reforms aimed at reducing New Jersey’s local property tax burden.

The Committee recognized the enormous gains made by urban children enrolled in the Abbott Preschool program, citing to research undertaken by NIEER, the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. NIEER research shows that attending Abbott preschool programs at age four leads to "statistically significant and meaningful impacts on children’s language, literacy, and math development." Attending the program for two years was expected to produce even more impressive results.

An increased investment in early childhood education was seen by the Committee as having "considerable long-term benefits for all New Jersey children, regardless of income, ... far outweigh[ing] the costs." Attendance in similar programs has been shown to alleviate the need for special and remedial education, boost overall academic achievement, increase incomes and employment rate (and consequently taxes paid), lower the frequency of welfare receipt, and decrease the likelihood of criminal activities.

The Committee’s recommendation was to expand the Abbott Preschool Program to all preschoolers residing in low-income school districts not covered by the landmark Abbott v. Burke rulings. That would add 77 districts to the 31 Abbott districts, making the high-quality program available to thousands more children. The Committee also recommended that state funds be used to provide prekindergarten programs to low income children -- those eligible for the federal lunch program (family incomes less than 185% of the Federal Poverty Level) -- in all other districts statewide.

Finally, recognizing the success of full-day kindergarten in the Abbott districts, and the "vital" importance of early childhood education to later success in school, the Committee recommended support for full-day kindergarten in districts statewide

Education Law Center’s legal advocacy in the Abbott v. Burke education equity case resulted in the nation’s first court mandate for state funded, high quality pre-k and full-day kindergarten as an element of a "thorough and efficient" education under the State’s constitution. ELC’s continued advocacy and legal action have also been instrumental in fast-tracking program implementation, and maintaining program quality, access and accountability.

The Committee attributed New Jersey’s move to the national forefront in providing high quality preschool programs to the Abbott v. Burke rulings. "The Committee’s encouraging recommendations demonstrate the role legal advocacy can play in a multi-pronged strategy for establishing state funded, high quality pre-k programs. It also underscores the importance of a sustained advocacy effort in expanding out these programs to serve more children," said Ellen Boylan, senior attorney and pre-k advocate at ELC.

For more information on issues related to the Abbott Preschool Program and other state-funded prekindergarten programs, visit our home page, or contact Ellen Boylan at (973) 624-1815, ext. 18, or by e-mail at eboylan@edlawcenter.org.