Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental Assistance Programs: Access, Quality, and Workforce
continued rate increases is imperative to ensure Pennsylvania remains on par with other states in terms of providing high-quality programs. Full-day Pre-K Counts slots are reimbursed at a base rate of $10,000, and half-day slots are reimbursed at a base rate of $5,000. HSSAP slots are reimbursed at a base rate of $10,653. Providers rely on pre-k reimbursements to help supplement the high cost of care for infants and toddlers, and continuing to increase those base rates ensures a more stable early care and education sector. In a report published by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children in 2022, Pennsylvania ranks 14th in per capita state spending compared to the other 26 states with similar quality ratings of their pre-k programs. The state’s per capita spending is $1,103, far less than neighboring New Jersey— ranked 1st—which spends nearly $4,000 per capita on high-quality pre-k education. Increasing investments in high-quality pre-k education is essential to ensuring Pennsylvania’s children enter school ready to succeed. The benefits high-quality pre-k provides are worth the investment, and the state will see a return on that investment well into the future. An analysis of Pennsylvania’s Pre-K Counts program by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed that children who participate are positively impacted compared to children who do not. Children participating in Pre-K Counts have significantly higher language and math skills and gain an additional four to five months of learning compared to their peers. 69 Further, the analysis suggested access to high-quality pre-k can also help students diminish summer learning loss, which can be up to an entire month of learning based on a study by Brookings. 70
Perhaps even more laudable, the impact study noted consistent results statewide by geographic region, the percent of 3-year-olds enrolled, or how urban or rural of a location, indicating steady implementation of regulations and curriculum and providing participating children equal educational opportunities. 71 Even kindergarten teachers see the difference when children come to their classrooms. A survey of kindergarten teachers found that 96% agree that students who attend a high-quality pre-k program are ready for success in kindergarten. 72 One teacher noted students exposed to high-quality pre-k “have a basic understanding of foundational skills like letter and number recognition” and “have already started building a foundation of learning.” 73
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