Pre-K Grants Act
1. Experts agree the most effective means of promoting school readiness is to enable parents to be closely involved in the education of their children at an early age. The Pre-K Grants Act will enable financially challenged parents to choose the preschool program that best suits their child.
2. The Pre-K Grants Act allows parents to choose a range of public or nonpublic private preschool programs that offer diverse quality educational opportunities to the Commonwealth’s most disadvantaged children.
3. The Pre-K Grants Act will enrich the already successful Pre-K programs in Pennsylvania. Why would we spend billions of dollars duplicating something we already have when we can expand the successful programs that are available to children today. There are thousands of open seats in Pennsylvania’s existing Pre-K programs, so let’s fill those seats before we create any new programs.
4. There are several reasons to support the Pre-K Grants Act: religious freedom; fairer choices for parents; and economics.
a. Religious Freedom: Many parents feel a religious-based pre-k is best for laying the developmental foundation for their children. Church-related pre-schools have a proven track record of success and make up a significant number of non-public pre-k opportunities. The Pre-K Grants Act would make these schools accessible to disadvantaged families too.
b. Fairer Choices: Parents are responsible for the education of their children. Parents know their children best. It is their role to choose the school that they determine to be the best fit, especially during the particularly formative years of their pre-K aged children. Parents should be offered the full range of choices for their child’s education.
c. Economics: Non-public schools (K-12) save billions for Pennsylvania taxpayers. The accessibility to families of nonpublic educational alternatives decreases the burdens on the Commonwealth and local school districts and increases the range of educational choices available to Pennsylvania families, thus providing a benefit to all citizens of this Commonwealth.