Advocacy group turns focus to expanding preschool
BY MICHAEL SYMONS
GANNETT STATE BUREAU
TRENTON — The annual New Jersey Kids Count report issued today shows the number of young children without health insurance dropped 10 percent from 2004 to 2005 and poverty remained relatively stable, though both remain markedly higher than five years ago.
From 2001 to 2005, the number of children under 6 living in poverty grew 35 percent, to 93,000, and the number without health insurance jumped by 14 percent to 234,000 despite the decline in 2005, according to the report from the Association for Children of New Jersey.
The number of toddlers with high levels of lead, which hampers brain development, rose 21 percent in 2005, says the report. And fewer eligible children are receiving free or reduced price lunches, part of a steady decline in participation in the nutritional program.
But the news isn\’t all gloomy: More low-income fourth graders passed the state\’s
standardized tests in math and language arts. First trimester prenatal care is on the rise, as are federal tax credits. Juvenile arrests and detention center admissions are down.
And preschool enrollment — the theme of the 2007 Kids Count report — is up 32 percent over the last five years. The report\’s authors called for a further expansion of preschool programs to more low-income children, which was among the recommendations from the property tax special session that haven\’t been acted upon.
\”It is time to expand that success to reach more children and to embrace the growing practice of providing significant supports to our youngest children and their families,\” said Cecilia Zalkind, exective director of the ACNJ. \”A focus on early childhood reaps incredible returns for children, families and society.\”
More than 25,000 children are in public-school preschool programs, largely because the state Supreme Court requires the state to fund such programs in the 31 poor districts, mostly urban, covered by the Abbott vs. Burke school funding equity lawsuit.
State law requires the 132 districts sharing $330 million in early childhood learning aid to provide full-day kindergarten and half-day preschool for four-year-olds. Abbott districts must provide full-day, full-year programs for three- and four-year-olds, which this year is costing the state about $243 million.