Floyd: House Bill 400 allocates some lottery funds to preschool education
By DAVID FLOYD
50th State Representative
DAVID FLOYD
Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014 — Old Man Winter is wearing out his welcome, but our “Coffee with Dave” still had a good group at the 150 Quick Stop this past Saturday.
One guest was the president of the local Retired Teacher’s group. We clarified with one another that last week’s column was trying to state solid support for retired teachers, and we set up a meeting with a KTRA officer this week for more discussion. I confessed to her that I had a strong negative reaction to an op-ed containing false claims by a KTRS director, and acknowledged that I could have tempered my comments about him.
At 9 a.m. this Saturday, Sen. Jimmy Higdon and I will be at High Grove Grocery. If you want to plan ahead, the March 1 “Coffee with Dave” will be at the Bloomfield Public Library, and March 8th’s “Coffee” will be at New Hope. Sen. Higdon should be with us at all of these.
When Kentuckians voted in the lottery by state constitutional amendment in 1988, most understood that the state’s portion of the proceeds would be used for education. In fact, Governor Wilkinson’s lottery commission recommended that the bulk of the proceeds be used for early childhood education. Today, none of it is used for this purpose. Almost all of it is used for college grants and scholarships. And that’s cool, but most children don’t benefit from this. I believe we’d make a better investment if we struck some balance between early childhood and college scholarships. And so, I have introduced HB 400 to implement this balance.
We must admit that not all children need preschool to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. On the other hand, from my research and listening to local teachers I’m convinced that early childhood education is the single most productive investment we can make in children from poor backgrounds. Better than help paying for college, better even than postsecondary technical education. Good preschools serve wonderfully to better prepare these children to enter kindergarten with the soft skills necessary to begin learning right away on a pace with other students.
Many parents already prepare their children by reading to them, taking them on trips, and talking with them about daily activities. If both parents work, these likely can afford to send their children to preschool already. But children in lower income families typically do not have the same “home schooling” and other opportunities in their young lives.
Our state budget is already strained to provide adequate funds for education in K-12. Right now, preschool is a luxury that we cannot afford for all children. These days, your state Department of Education takes General Fund dollars and gives them to some public schools as grants to fund preschool programs without regard to poverty status. HB 400 would free up as much as 66 million dollars that could be used elsewhere in any number of ways, including support for the state’s Cooperative Extension Program, which serves every county in Kentucky.
As originally introduced, State Lottery proceeds will be made available for preschool funding, shared with College Grants and KEES scholarships. These funds can be used as grants to a public school when used for low-income children in its preschool program. Funds may also be used in refundable tax credits to qualifying low-income parents up to $1000/year. They can use this tax credit to offset the cost of tuition at a private preschool program. The private school must be pre-qualified by the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council.
I hope that this idea is implemented, whether through my bill or in some other way. It frees up money for the Department of Education to use elsewhere. And it would give great satisfaction to many people if they knew that the main reason they voted for the state lottery back in 1988 was finally realized.
The best part of my job is hearing from you. Call me at home, or come see Jimmy and me at the next Coffee with Dave.
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