After struggling to finalize California's FY09 budget—and making severe cuts to address a massive budget shortfall—Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger worked with the state legislature to maintain level funding for the state’s investment in pre-k. In addition, the governor signed two early education bills into law last week. The first bill, SB 1629, establishes an Advisory Committee charged to develop an Early Learning Quality Improvement System. This will increase providers' capacity to reach higher program quality and help parents make more informed decisions about programs. The second bill, AB 2759, is designed to allow for more effective use of state funds by consolidating all the early childhood education programs in the state. "Pre-Kindergarten education is the first formal step a child takes toward academic success and California's children deserve the highest-quality programs that put them on track to a successful future," says Governor Schwarzenegger.

On Aug 22, the Wall Street Journal printed a large anti-preschool op-ed by the Reason Foundation, which misreported solid early education research and deemed preschool “damaging” to children. The early education community—including Pre-K Now and the Pew Center on the States—responded with letters to the Journal editorial board to set the record straight. A week later, the Journal printed a response signed by Libby Doggett and Susan Urahn, as well as a letter defending James Heckman’s support of pre-k penned by Illinois Action for Children. Lawrence Schweinhart and Heckman, himself, were among other supportive respondents calling attention to the Reason Foundation’s misquoted statistics.

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