FEBP ed funding database now includes pre-k

The New America Foundation’s Federal Education Budget Project (FEBP) and Early Education Initiative  jointly announce today an expansion of FEBP’s education funding database (www.edbudgetproject.org). The database now includes data on funding and enrollment for publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs.

The new data include funding and enrollment for fiscal years 2007 through 2011 at the state and school district levels for:
* State-funded pre-K programs, where such programs exist;
* Head Start programs; and
* Federal special education services for 3-to 5-year-olds provided through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Section 619.

“FEBP’s database now reflects the evolution of our American education system from a K-12 to a PreK-12 system,” said Lisa Guernsey, director of the Early Education Initiative. “For the first time, policymakers and parents can gain information on how many children are enrolled in district-run pre-K programs and the levels at which they are funded. We are also shining a light on the additional data required to provide a complete picture of access to early education in a locality.”

In updating FEBP to include early education information, experts discovered many states and school districts do not collect some of the most basic information about publicly funded programs for young children. FEBP’s data do not reflect all publicly funded pre-K programs operated within school district boundaries, particularly those run by community-based organizations (CBOs). Read more on the data limitations here.

The expansion of FEBP’s database to include pre-K was made possible by grants from the Foundation for Child Development.