Montana, one of nine states with no state preschool program, is a step closer to offering publicly funded preschool to 4-year-olds after a vote by the state board of education last week.
The six-member board voted unanimously to that receive state funding. Right now, there are no such schools in Montana. Though the state subsidizes child care for some low-income families, it does not regulate or fund a preschool program, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).
If a , a Democrat, wins approval in the state legislature this spring, that could change.
Not likely, wrote the editors of The Billings Gazette on Wednesday. Bullock鈥檚 proposal 鈥渨ill be a tough sell in a Legislature controlled by the GOP,鈥� the Gazette editorial reads. 鈥淐andidate responses printed in The Gazette Voter Guide in October indicated little support for Bullock鈥檚 pre-K plan among Republicans.鈥�
Opinionators around the state have written against the idea, citing the principle that the government should not interfere in its citizens鈥� personal lives, including the raising of young children.
鈥淚t now seems that parents can no longer be trusted to rear their young鈥攁 sad state of affairs to be sure,鈥� in a letter to the editor of The Flathead Beacon in Kalispell, a small town in northern Montana. 鈥淲e must now entrust them to our polished and shiny governmental education machine.鈥�
Despite such concerns, the state board of education received 481 oral and written comments in support of the new state standards for preschools and only 63 against, .
And though Montana doesn鈥檛 have an operating state preschool program now, it has been taking steps toward it for the past few years, . An early-childhood education advisory council was formed in 2011 to coordinate public services for young children. The state also has early-learning standards on record and has, twice now, applied for federal funds to support the launch of a public program.
Whether or not the state receives the still-pending $40 million Preschool Development Grant it applied for and which way the legislature votes on Bullock鈥檚 proposal this spring will determine which steps, if any, Montana takes next.