Pre-K Fact Sheets & Mapping Available for Pennsylvania

Each year, PPC creates interactive maps for the Pre-K for PA campaign, and the 2024 maps and corresponding fact sheets are now available. Data on pre-k is available at the statewide, county, school district, and legislative district levels.

The maps highlight the unmet need for high-quality, publicly funded pre-k at each geographic level, including data points such as the eligible child population, high-quality, publicly funded enrollment, and number of high-quality pre-k locations.

Statewide, of the 145,010 eligible children ages 3-4 living in Pennsylvania, only 46% have access to high-quality pre-kindergarten. With workforce challenges experienced in the sector, an additional 7,817 pre-k staff are needed to serve the remaining eligible children.

As part of an enacted 2024-25 budget, the Pre-K for PA campaign is asking the General Assembly to:

• Support an investment of $30 million in Pre-K Counts to increase the per-child rate to help address workforce challenges and inflationary pressures in the sector. For the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, the proposed investment of $2.7 million to increase the per-child rate should be examined so that it is parity to the Pre-K Counts rate increase. To achieve this, the needed investment should be $8.8 million in the Head Start Supplemental Assistance line.
• Ensure this is the first step, as additional investments will be needed in future years to mitigate teacher shortages in this competitive economy further and provide greater access to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our preschool learners.

Click here to view the 2024 Pre-K Maps.

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