ATLANTA --- A movement to expand Georgia's preschool program and boost its funding is growing, attracting support from lawmakers, child-care providers, children's advocates and even curious attorneys.
Supporters say the ideas, which sparked the creation of a legislative study committee, would help the state's education performance. But they could require tapping the state lottery program, the main source of money for the pre-K and the HOPE Scholarship programs.
The proposals largely revolve around clearing up a state waiting list of more than 8,000 children; expanding the program to include 3-year-olds; and raising money to help private providers keep offering services.
Supporters say the money is there, even if the state needs to dip into a trio of lottery reserve accounts that total $946.5 million.
"The lottery surplus is so huge and it is sitting there unused," said Emmet Bondurant, an Atlanta attorney who wrote a report touting the benefits of more preschool funding and sent it to Gov. Sonny Perdue and lawmakers.
This budget year, which began July 1, lawmakers and Mr. Perdue have provided more than $6.4 million to expand the preschool program by 1,000 slots. Most of the funds were for increasing enrollment in urban or underserved counties such as Richmond, Clarke and Chatham, in addition to Atlanta-area counties including Cobb, Gwinnett and Paulding.
Although the funding paid off in those counties, which have some of the longest waiting lists, Department of Early Care and Learning Commissioner Holly Robinson conceded the efforts did little to slice into the state's overall waiting list.
"If you have an 8,000(-name) waiting list, and you only have 1,000 slots, you can't move that needle very much," she said.
Dr. Robinson said she would ask the governor and lawmakers to fund 3,000 more positions in the budget for the next fiscal year.
Even more positions could be needed, according to some advocacy groups. The nonprofit Southern Education Foundation said the 79,000-child pre-K program has signed up only about 55 percent of Georgia's 4-year-olds. The organization says the goal should be 80 percent, with the rest covered by parents who pay on their own, home-school their children or use religious preschool programs.
Some legislators and advocates are pushing to add 3-year-olds to the program to give some children more time to prepare for school.
Dr. Robinson told the committee she has focused on improving the quality of the state's program. But she said her agency is working with the federal Head Start program, which serves 3-year-olds and up, to get state money for some services for 4-year-olds and get more Head Start money for younger children.
"We do need to fully fund 4-year-old pre-K before we look at expanding," said Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, D-Atlanta.