Special Report

How Early Education in California Ranks

Samuel Stebbins

Published: June 12, 2021 7:00 am

The importance of socialization, proper nutrition, and education during early childhood is difficult to overstate. Multiple studies have linked enrollment in quality early childhood education programs with a greater chance for success, not only academically during school years, but also later in life — reducing the likelihood of poverty, unemployment, and criminality.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced access to pre-K programs across the United States, school districts are beginning to reopen. Annual pre-K spending in the United States totals $6,329 per pupil on average, and an estimated 46.2% of 3- and 4-year-old children are enrolled in preschool. These, and other key measures of investment, accessibility, and quality vary considerably by state, however.

Using data from the National Institute of Early Childhood Education Research and the U.S. Census Bureau, 24/7 Wall St. created an index consisting of a state’s pre-K spending, enrollment rates, assistance for needy families, fourth grade reading and math proficiency, and certain quality standards, to rank the overall quality of early childhood education programs.

With a $1.9 billion budget, California is the only state where pre-K spending exceeded the $1 billion mark in 2020. Even adjusting for population, the state’s per pupil spending of $8,030 is higher than in all but half a dozen other states. Despite the heavy investment, California fails to meet several important quality benchmarks, according to NIEER. For example, pre-K teachers in California are not always required to have a bachelor’s degree, and there is no limit to class sizes for public pre-K classrooms in the state.

Student achievement and outcomes in later years can improve, on average, with high quality ECE. Only 32.1% of fourth graders in the state are proficient in reading, and 33.6% are proficient in math, the 14th and seventh smallest shares, respectively, among states.

Data on state, local, and federal spending on preschool per child by state, as well as the number quality standard benchmarks that each state’s preschool program met (out of 10) in the 2019-20 school year came from the NIEER’s State of Preschool 2020 Yearbook. Data on the percentage of 3- and 4-year-old children enrolled in preschool came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey. Data on fourth grade reading and math proficiency is based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Data on the ratio of children receiving Child Care and Development Fund payments for every 100 children 18 and under living in poverty in 2019 was calculated using data from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. These are the states with the best and worst early education.