South By North Strategies, Ltd.

The North Carolina Budget & Tax Center explains why North Carolina shouldn’t lower the income standard used to determine enrollment in state-funded pre-kindergarten programs.

Building a pathway for more of North Carolina’s children to achieve financial security and middle-class status is critical to creating a strong economy. NC Pre-K and early childhood programs provide such a pathway by investing in quality learning experiences at a critical developmental period. Because NC Pre-K’s current “at-risk” eligibility threshold is inclusive of a broader range of children in households experiencing economic hardship with incomes above the flawed federal poverty level, it has the greatest potential to improve the earnings for more North Carolinians and strengthen the economy in turn. Efforts to narrow the number of children able to benefit from NC Pre-K’s learning opportunity will thus decrease the positive long-term learning and economic impacts of the program on North Carolina’s children and our economy.