Funding Shortfalls Could Slow the Spread of Early Learning; Some Fear Middle-Class Children Will Be Left Behind

When Mateus Bontempo started preschool at a public school in Long Branch, N.J., he rarely talked and was so shy he'd stand in the classroom doorway until a teacher came to escort him inside.

Anna Dasilva, his mother, says educators worked with Mateus on his social skills, sometimes taking him to other classrooms to meet new children. Four years later, the eight-year-old third grader plays trumpet, participates in math competitions and performs in plays. "They really helped him along," says Mrs. Dasilva, who thinks all children should have the same preschool opportunity.

So does President Barack Obama. As one of the main goals of his education plan, he wants to spend $10 billion to encourage states to offer universal preschool and expand federal early-learning programs like Head Start. The recently passed stimulus bill includes half that spending goal, or $5 billion, for Head Start and related early-childhood efforts.

But the current economic crisis may blunt state-level efforts to broaden access to preschool. Even in better times, building a "universal" preschool system would likely be a slow and expensive proposition, given the patchwork nature of what currently exists.

And as state and federal efforts target early learning programs toward disadvantaged students, some middle-class parents feel that their children are being left out. According to a recent study by Pre-K Now, families earning more than about $40,000 a year are already ineligible for free preschool in most of the 20 states that use income to determine eligibility.

W. Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, at Rutgers University, says children from families of moderate means can benefit from preschool and should be included in any expansion strategy. "So America is going to disinvest in the middle class?" he said. "I just think that's crazy."

Nationwide, there are about eight million three- and four-year-olds, the most common ages for preschoolers. About three million don't attend any preschool. A roughly equal number go to private preschools, some of which offer little more than day care. The rest go to publicly funded schools where money and programs vary widely.

According to the National Institute for Early Education Research, 12 states spend nothing at all on preschool. Among the 38 that do pay for such programs, funding ranges from $1,600 a child in South Carolina to nearly $10,500 a child in New Jersey. Nearly 20 of those states don't require preschool teachers to have a bachelor's degree.

One reason that early learning should focus on disadvantaged children, educators say, is because it doesn't help middle- and upper-income kids as much. Some research indicates that the gains from preschool for children from middle- and upper-income families are modest, and that such children are more likely to develop behavioral problems if they spend too many hours in such programs.

Even so, research shows that for children at risk of falling behind in school -- because of poverty, a lack of English-language skills or other factors -- going to a high-quality preschool can boost graduation rates and reduce special-education placements.

Educators say the key is offering preschool programs that include teachers with four-year degrees, small classes and a well-designed curriculum. That doesn't come cheaply. The additional cost of providing quality universal preschool nationwide is estimated at up to $39 billion a year.

In 1998, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the state to make preschool available to all children in 31 high-poverty districts. They came to be known as the Abbott districts, named after one of the plaintiffs in the suit.

Joe Ferraina became superintendent of one of the Abbott districts, Long Branch, a few years before the court's preschool ruling. He lacked the funds to launch an extensive early-learning program but was troubled by what his teachers were telling him about some students.

"They were coming to kindergarten, and they didn't even know what a pair of scissors was," recalls Mr. Ferraina. He soon opened a small preschool in a rented building and staffed it with college students and retired teachers, none of them paid. Long Branch eventually built a free-standing preschool and established preschool classrooms in several elementary schools.

Long Branch teachers say the effort has paid dividends. During the 2006-2007 school year, 81% of the 6th graders who attended district preschools for two years scored in the proficient range on state math and reading tests, compared with 61% who did not attend the preschools, where attendance is voluntary.

More broadly, progress has been slow in some larger Abbott districts, but teachers say their preschool efforts have helped improve children's test scores as a group as they have progressed through elementary school. In 2008, 70.4% of Abbott district fourth graders scored at proficient or advanced levels on state math tests, up from 45% in 2003.

"We now have our own data that shows that high-quality preschool really does make a difference," said Lucille Davy, New Jersey's education commissioner.

Infrastructure was a big problem in Union City, N.J., a city of 67,000 located just across the Hudson River from New York City. After the court order, state officials advised the district to prepare for an additional 300 preschoolers; at the time it only had space for 75.

"We didn't have the classroom availability" or funds for expansion, says Stanley Sanger, now the district's superintendent.

Union City educators observed classes at private preschools across the region. Eventually, the district contracted with 33 of them to provide preschool services. The district appointed some of its own veteran teachers to coach the private-school educators.

The state gave the private-school teachers who didn't have bachelor's degrees five years to earn them. Some quit, and taking night classes was tough on many who stayed. Euridice Correa, of Union City, who had a young son at home at the time, says her husband was so upset by her frequent absences that the couple separated for a time. "It was very hard, very difficult," says Mrs. Correa, who nonetheless succeeded and is now pursuing her master's degree.

The state would like to expand to include about 30,000 at-risk preschoolers living outside the Abbott districts, bringing the total for children enrolled in such programs to more than 70,000.

But with New Jersey facing a budget deficit expected to approach $5 billion in the coming fiscal year, it's unclear where the state will come up with the extra $330 million to finance the expansion, which would bring total preschool funding to $850 million.

New Jersey's expansion plan has also sparked resentment in non-Abbott districts like Hamilton Township. There, an existing program offers a half-day of preschool for about 240 four-year-olds from families of all income levels. It will have to be dismantled to make room for mandatory full-day classes for more than twice that many low-income children.

Kristin Aiken, a stay-at-home mom who is married to an upholsterer, says Hamilton Township's preschool has helped her daughter, now four, become more independent. She says she's angry the program won't be there for her son, who is two.

"Now, the middle-income students that can't afford to go to private school, they are disadvantaged socially," she says. "The low-income children are going to be at an advantage in that respect."

Write to Robert Tomsho at rob.tomsho@wsj.com