A new report found Connecticut is expanding preschool enrollment and investments.
The "2025 State of Pre-School Yearbook" showed the state increased per-child spending to more than $10,000 during the 2024-25 school year, up from almost $9,000 a year earlier. The state also saw a mild increase in enrollment with another 391 kids entering preschool.
Allison Friedman-Krauss, associate research professor for the National Institute for Early Education at Rutgers University, said Connecticut is seeing shifting preschool access.
"We see Connecticut, in terms of access, is actually sort of towards the bottom of the states," Friedman-Krauss explained. "In terms of access for four-year-olds, they enrolled only 16% of four-year-olds. But they do much better for three-year-olds; they enrolled almost 15% of three-year-olds."
She noted the state is doing better than others, since most have not expanded access for three-year-olds. However, the state has made improvements since the school year covered by the report. The General Assembly created the Early Childhood Education Endowment to make childcare free for families earning under $100,000 per year.
Despite improvements, the state is only meeting five of 10 benchmarks for day care contracts. One way to improve would be increasing the quality standards for programs so all teachers in early childhood education programs have a bachelor’s degree, Friedman-Krauss urged. She added the state also falls short on professional development.
"We want to see that all teachers and assistant teachers have at least 15 hours of professional development a year, have received individualized coaching," Friedman-Krauss outlined. "And have individualized professional development plans so they have a supervisor or somebody working with them each year to figure out where they need the most support."
Other improvements include having a continuous quality improvement system and ensuring kids who get health, hearing and vision screenings are referred for care when an issue comes up. She pointed out the state does not currently offer referrals. Friedman-Krauss emphasized while the state is not meeting every benchmark, they’re coming remarkably close.
Source: Public News Service
