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Governor Calls For Expanding Pre-K Access

Christopher Connelly
/
WYPR

Governor Martin O’Malley wants more of Maryland’s kids enrolled in pre-kindergarten programs. The governor’s budget calls for an additional $4.3 million to pay for 16,000 more kids to get into pre-K.

At a news conference this morning alongside House Speaker Mike Busch and Senate President Mike Miller, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said where kids start school has a big impact on where they end up. “There’s a difference between a child who starts kindergarten with a 3,000-word vocabulary or an 8,000-word vocabulary.” Brown said. “By the time those two children get to 12th grade, that difference equals significant differences in career options available to those students.”

He says the answer to narrowing that disparity is pre-kindergarten education.

The proposal would fund access to free half-day pre-k programs to families making up to $70,650 per year – or 300 percent of the federal poverty level. That brings it up from the current standard of 185 percent of the federal poverty level.

The governor's administration is expected to introduce legislation into both chambers of the General Assembly to support the increase in funding on Monday as part of his legislative package.

Christopher Connelly is a political reporter for WYPR, covering the day-to-day movement and machinations in Annapolis. He comes to WYPR from NPR, where he was a Joan B. Kroc Fellow, produced for weekend All Things Considered and worked as a rundown editor for All Things Considered. Chris has a master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. He’s reported for KALW (San Francisco), KUSP (Santa Cruz, Calif.) and KJZZ (Phoenix), and worked at StoryCorps in Brooklyn, N.Y. He’s filed stories on a range of topics, from a shortage of dog blood in canine blood banks to heroin addicts in Tanzania. He got his start in public radio at WYSO in Yellow Springs, Ohio, when he was a student at Antioch College.