The Universal Pre-K Initiative is a movement to allow access to preschool programs for all eligible children in any state regardless of their social economic status, abilities and any other reason. Universal Pre-K started back in 1834 in France and grew throughout other European countries. The movement started gaining momentum in the United States as societies’ view shifted from seeing children’s development as a responsibility of parents to a responsibility of society and parents. About 38 out of the 50 states have started some form of preschool programs but these are often run by various community agencies in contrast to the desired state ran preschool programs the Universal Pre-K Initiative is calling for. According to Parents.com, there are three …show more content…
One of the biggest opposition with Universal Per-K is funding. With the costs of Universal Pre-K often being deemed “underestimated,” opponents want to know who will be paying for it. Some even argue that the state should not be providing these services and allow existing agencies to continue operating Pre-K Programs. Whether or not you’re a proponent or opponent for the Universal Pre-K Initiative the impact it will have on the Early Childhood Education workforce is apparent. The impact can be looked at both positively or negatively. Current and future ECE educators will have more opportunities to work in these state run Pre-K programs, but what will happen to all the existing Pre-K programs. The biggest impact I see coming from Universal Pre-K is existing Pre-K Programs being closed or shutdown, displacing employees and breaking relationship build in communities. I think the best solution to this is to allow existing Pre-K Programs the opportunity to meet the new set of standards and criteria and allow them to remain open as a supplemental provider to the state operated Pre-K