Kaine Trims Pre-K Proposal

Mandated adjustments for public school spending, which occur every two years, are likely to cost the state an additional $1.1 billion in the next budget. A weakening housing market may lead to a budget shortage of as much as $500 million, legislators say. The state also faces mandated increases in Medicaid spending.

Furthermore, Kaine and legislators have said they would like to boost spending on mental health in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre in April.

"You've got to be very careful not to start some new program that you can't fund down the road," said Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr. (R-Fairfax), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Under Kaine's pre-kindergarten initiative, Start Strong, the state will implement a rating system to try to assure a "quality" network of preschools.

Preschool programs that meet certain standards -- public, private or religious -- would be eligible for state funding to serve underprivileged children. Currently, only public schools participate in the Virginia Preschool Initiative.

Including the preschool programs that parents now pay for, Kaine estimated that two-thirds of the state's 4-year-olds could be enrolled in an educational program by 2012 if his new initiative is approved.

Several experts who spoke at the forum yesterday applauded the shift to targeting state funding toward poor and lower-middle-class families.

Thirty-eight states have state-funded pre-kindergarten programs, but only Florida, Oklahoma and Georgia offer universal access, according to Pre-K Now, a Washington-based organization.

"The highest returns come with the most disadvantaged families," said James Heckman, a University of Chicago economist.

Former North Carolina governor James B. Hunt Jr. (D), who was at the forefront of establishing pre-kindergarten programs in that state in the 1990s, said Kaine's program should be an easy sell.

"Ask [legislators] what they do for K-12; they fund it 100 percent. Ask them what they do for higher ed; they fund it. This is more important," Hunt said. "This is necessary for those other things to work."