Pre-pandemic, Black children in Pennsylvania had less access to high-quality preschool than white children, according to a new report.

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that this disparity was due primarily to the way the state funds its two main preschool programs, Child Care Works and Pre-K Counts, and the different standards policymakers have set for them. As overall enrollment in the program grew from 2014 to 2019, Black children’s enrollment in Pre-K Counts declined slightly, before the pandemic put unprecedented stress on early childhood education.

Child Care Works is the state’s subsidized child care program, while Pre-K Counts is its largest pre-kindergarten program. Together they served over 53,000 children as of 2019, with roughly  36,700 in Child Care Works, and 17,000 in Pre-K Counts.

Child Care Works is targeted toward low-income working families, those making under 200% of the federal poverty line, which was just above $25,000 for a family of four in 2019. Pre-K Counts has higher income eligibility – 300% of poverty – and does not require a parent to be working. Child Care Works is year-round, while Pre-K Counts tracks the academic year of 180 days.

The state pays more per child for Pre-K Counts, and overall funding for that program has nearly doubled between 2014 and 2019, while Child Care Works funding dropped by about 2%. While Pre-K Counts provides a standard amount of funding per child, funding for Child Care Works varies. In addition, the state rewards higher quality providers in Child Care Works with more money as an incentive to improve, she said.

More white children proportionally are enrolled in Pre-K Counts, which has more rigorous standards for teachers and overall programs, while more Black children are in Child Care Works, where standards exist but aren’t as stringent.

In both programs, white children are more likely to be in classrooms that have earned four stars – the highest level – on the state’s rating system, the report found. Besides teacher qualifications, these ratings take into account factors including space conditions, outreach to families, financial stability, and whether a center offers professional development for staff.

While 50.2% of white Pre-K Counts participants were enrolled with a four-star provider in 2019, for example, only 38.1% of Black participants were.

On the state’s four-star rating system, Pre-K Counts must earn a rating of three or four, while Child Care Works can include one and two.

“The disparities for Black children were stunning in terms of the lack of access to the providers that were going to be getting more support from the state of Pennsylvania,” said Erica Frankenberg, a Penn State professor of education and one of the report’s authors, in an interview.

The report recommends that “any policy aimed at improving quality, such as funding for higher teacher wages, should be applied to all providers serving young children of any age, not just those who teach in designated pre-k programs.”

Read the full article about preschool programs for Black students by Dale Mezzacappa at Chalkbeat Philadelphia.