Getting Early Childhood Right Needs to be a Kentucky Priority

Dec. 19, 2025
Contact: Lisa McKinney, Communications Director, The Prichard Committee
(cell) 859-475-7202
lisa@prichardcommittee.org

Statement from the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence 

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Since the 1980’s, Kentucky has recognized early learning as the foundation for student success, and family and community strength. Yet, too many families still lack access to affordable, high-quality early learning and too many Kentucky youngsters lack appropriate developmental environments during the all-important years of brain development from ages 0-5.

While policymakers strive to strengthen Kentucky’s economic outlook, attract jobs, develop talent, and put more money back in Kentuckians pockets, early childhood – as a critical foundation to that growth – must be part of the strategy.

Evidence of this need includes:

• Kindergarten readiness at 46% and never having risen above 50%,
• The majority of Kentucky referred to as a childcare desert, meaning there is a significant lack of adequate childcare,
• Kentucky now ranking 46th in preschool participation, down from 38th in 2021 and 24th in 2006,
• Kentucky ranking near the bottom of the country in workforce participation, and
• Kentucky ranks 46th in household income, down from 44th in 2021.

Poll after poll show Kentuckians concern and support for the issue of early childhood. They understand it’s implications for our youngest children, for families, and for the workforce. They understand it requires a comprehensive fix and public investment.

The Prichard Committee, along with the Strong Start Kentucky coalition, has long championed public-private partnerships as the cornerstone of a thriving early learning system. This approach—where school districts, Head Start, private childcare, and family childcare homes – work as a mutually reinforcing system to meet families’ needs creates the most effective infrastructure. In fact, such a direction is what led other states to climb to the top 20 in national rankings, while Kentucky fell to the bottom 5.

“Creating greater access and opportunities for Kentucky’s youngest learners and their families ensures we have more children prepared for kindergarten. The research is clear; to improve education and life outcomes for children and families across the commonwealth, we need strong policy that will bring systems together through a coordinated approach to early learning. Kentucky needs this now for improving education outcomes across the state”, said Felicia Cumings Smith, Chair of the Board, Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

A strong interconnected delivery system, with investment and aligned policy on both sides of the ledger – childcare and preschool – will serve to create the conditions for childcare (a primarily small and women-owned industry) to grow and thrive, enhancing the availability of infant and toddler care, alongside developmental supports for kindergarten readiness for all children. It can also ensure Kentucky’s public investment helpsmanage affordability for all families, while providing for the various settings of care needed by working families.

We applaud the Pre-K for All Advisory Committee for their work the to galvanize Kentuckians’ around this critical issue and to develop a shared foundation of understanding in all corners of the state. We also applaud the many policymakers and state partners striving to make improvements in these areas.

We stand ready to work with the General Assembly on this important, and strategically critical, topic. Ensuring state policy and investment decisions result in measurable improvement in a critically important part of the education pipeline, and critical component to sustainable growth and momentum of our state, must be our shared focus.

The Prichard Committee believes in the power and promise of public education –early childhood through college– to ensure Kentuckians’ economic and social well-being. We are a citizen-led, non-partisan, solutions-focused nonprofit, established in 1983 with a singular mission of realizing a path to a larger life for Kentuckians with education at the core.