As a new mother and a founding member of Georgia Kids First, a coalition dedicated to child safety and education resources, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges parents face in finding affordable, high-quality early education opportunities for their children.
Last year, Georgia’s legislators took an important step with a historic $97 million investment in our state’s pre-K program. This funding reduced class sizes and encouraged more schools and private providers to host pre-K programs. But while that investment was meaningful, it’s only a Band-Aid on the larger crisis of child care and early education access in Georgia.
So many parents I know don’t even bother applying for the pre-K lottery because they assume they’ll end up on the waitlist. This means the waitlist doesn’t truly reflect how many children need access but aren’t being served. Simply eliminating waitlists isn’t enough.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
We need to increase pre-K capacity to encourage parents who’ve stopped participating to apply. I’ve heard from families who feel like the system is too overburdened to even try. By expanding capacity, we can rebuild trust and show that early childhood education is a priority. More spots mean more opportunities to prepare our children for kindergarten success.
Too many Georgia families are struggling to afford child care and early learning opportunities. Without significant and sustained investment, we risk failing the youngest learners who are our future workforce, innovators and leaders. Research consistently demonstrates that investing in early childhood education yields profound benefits.
Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman found that every $1 invested in early education returns $7 in future benefits, including better health outcomes, reduced crime rates, and higher earning potential for participants. Programs like Georgia’s pre-K don’t just transform individual lives — they strengthen our communities and our economy.
Child care availability is also a pressing economic issue. A recent study by the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students revealed that inadequate child care access costs Georgia’s economy $1.75 billion annually in lost productivity and $105 million in lost tax revenue.
When families can’t access reliable and affordable care, parents are forced to reduce work hours or leave the workforce altogether. This hurts businesses, disrupts household incomes and dampens our state’s economic growth.
Georgia’s pre-K program has been a national model for decades, but it’s time to reimagine what is possible. Expanding the program to include 3-year-olds would be a transformative step forward.
Research shows that earlier access to structured, high-quality learning environments sets children up for long-term success. Yet, without a dedicated and sustainable funding source, we’ll continue to rely on temporary measures that fall short of meeting the needs of Georgia families.
This legislative session, I urge our leaders to prioritize early education by identifying a long-term revenue source for Georgia pre-K.
One day, I hope we can offer every 3- and 4-year-old in our state the opportunity to thrive in a high-quality program. This is one of the smartest investments we can make — not just for our children, but for the future prosperity of Georgia.
The time to act is now. Let’s redouble our commitment to early childhood education and give Georgia’s youngest learners the strong start they deserve.
Bess Ghoddousi is an Atlanta resident and founding member of Georgia Kids First, a coalition dedicated to child safety and education resources.
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