Families in Alabama have free, full-day prekindergarten while many Mass. families can only dream of it – Boston Globe
By Naomi Martin and Jenna Russell
Alabama is, to say the least, not where Bay Staters would look for a model of early childhood education.
But while Alabama ranks much lower than Massachusetts on most education metrics, experts say it is serving its children and families far better in at least one important area: prekindergarten.
Most families in Massachusetts, unless they happen to snag one of few public pre-K seats, face paying an average of $15,000 per year to give their children access to high-quality learning opportunities in the crucial year before kindergarten. Tens of thousands of families each year can’t access pre-K at all, or can only afford low-quality options. As a result, many lower-income children start kindergarten behind their more affluent peers, a disparity that often persists throughout their school years.