The children of Birmingham received an early Christmas gift this year. Birmingham City Schools’ Superintendent Dr. Lisa Herring and Mayor Randall Woodfin announced that all 45 pre-k classrooms in the Birmingham City Schools system are joining the Alabama First Class Pre-K program. Thanks to state grants and support from the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, all classrooms will follow the quality standards of First Class Pre-K and receive additional teacher coaching, professional development and classroom supplies. For 11 years in a row, Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program has been recogized by the National Institute for Early Education as the highest-quality state-funded pre-k program in the country.
Approximately 43% of Birmingham’s four-year-olds are enrolled in Alabama First Class Pre-K in the Birmingham City Schools, child care centers, Head Start, nonprofits and other settings. For Jefferson County, that figure drops to just 22% of all four-year-olds served in First Class Pre-K in various settings across the county.
ASRA’s Pre-K Task Force co-chair Mike Luce, Vice Chairman of Harbert Management, was on hand at last Friday’s announcement to congratulate BCS and advocate for the continued expansion of Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program. Click here for more.
