Support Pre-K for Middle Class Families
A large body of research tells us that children who participate in high-quality pre-k reap benefits that give them a foundation for success for school and life. Unfortunately, as many of you know, middle-income families are often “squeezed out” of high-quality pre-k because they do not qualify for state-funded programs and at the same time, they do not earn enough to pay for quality, private early education programs.
To call attention to this problem and advocate for expansion of our state pre-k program in schools, child care centers, and community-based organizations, we are collecting stories from families with pre-k age children who are affected by the “Middle Class Squeeze.”
Specifically, we are looking for stories from middle-income families - defined tentatively as those earning about $45,000 to $75,000 (roughly the middle third of the income spectrum) - who either have struggled to pay for high-quality pre-k or have to settle for mediocre quality programs because they can’t afford high-quality ones.
Your stories will help us remind legislators and elected officials that the current income eligibility criteria is too low, and that poor families are not the only ones who need access to high-quality pre-k. Whatever your story is, we’d love to hear it! If you are a middle-income family with preschool-aged children and have not been able to access quality preschool for your children please help support our pre-k advocacy efforts in the state and email a brief account of your story to us by June 30th 2008. Please also include any contact information that you are willing to share (e.g., email and/or phone). For many of the stories we receive, we may wish to contact families for clarfication or questions. Your names will not be shared publicly.
We appreciate your help and look forward to hearing from you.