In an op-ed published yesterday at EdNC, I call for the North Carolina General Assembly to revisit pre-K funding as it rewrites the recently vetoed state budget bill. The state could and should more fully leverage this valuable asset to drive improved outcomes for North Carolina’s children.
An excerpt from the piece:

Gov. Roy Cooper recently vetoed North Carolina’s state budget plan. As lawmakers go back to the drawing board on critical issues like Medicaid expansion, the General Assembly would be wise to revisit a missed opportunity in its public education budget: investment in early childhood.
The challenge in North Carolina is not the quality of NC Pre-K, our state pre-kindergarten program. The challenge is that far too few children can access it. 

Read the rest of this piece at EdNC. Learn more about educational, economic, and social conditions in the American South and strategies southern states have pursued in early childhood and across the education continuum in Education in the American South: Historical Context, Current State, and Future Possibilities.