Education Secretary Visits Atlanta Pre-Kindergarten Class

May 31st, 2013

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The Obama Administration has highlighted Georgia’s Pre-Kindergarten program as a national model. The president’s proposed budget includes a plan to provide universal Pre-K. That’s what U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan promoted Friday at Atlanta’s Boyd Elementary School.

Duncan started his visit with what he called his “favorite part of the day.” He and Georgia’s First Lady Sandra Deal took turns reading Roar: A Noisy Counting Book to a class of four year-olds.

Afterwards, a panel, which included Duncan, Gov. Nathan Deal, and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed discussed the future of early childhood education. The governor said he recently suggested to Duncan a different funding model.

“My idea to him was that if they would just simply block grant the millions of dollars that are being spent in Georgia on Head Start that we could do a much better job with it because, quite frankly, the quality of education in our system is better than the Head Start program,” Deal said.

Head Start is a federal program that serves low-income children between ages 3 and 5. It’s run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Deal said Georgia’s Pre-K program serves students better.

“We have higher qualifications for our teachers, for example, than Head Start does,” he said, “We have a structured educational environment where we think it will produce better results.”

Duncan didn’t commit to block grants. But he did suggest there may be a step in that direction.

“With the president’s plan, the goal would be for HHS to focus on our babies, our 0-3 year olds,” Duncan said, “More home visiting, which has huge benefits.”

The Education Department would then focus on kids ages four and up. The president’s proposal suggests funding the $75 billion program through a controversial new cigarette tax. Gov. Deal said he doesn’t support paying for the plan that way. Duncan said he’s open to other suggestions.