New Data Show Kentucky Falling Behind on Preschool Access
May 13, 2026
Contact: Lisa McKinney, Communications Director, The Prichard Committee
(cell) 859-475-7202
lisa@prichardcommittee.org
New Data Show Kentucky Falling Behind on Preschool Access
Despite Strong Quality Standards
Prichard Committee Calls for Coordinated Investment and Action to Expand Early Learning Opportunities
LEXINGTON, Ky—New data from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) show Kentucky continues to lag behind neighboring states in access to state‑funded preschool, even as it maintains strong quality standards. During the 2024–25 school year, Kentucky served just 26% of four‑year‑olds and 8% of three‑year‑olds, with enrollment declining by nearly 900 children from the year prior.
“When states invest in quality preschool programs that can produce strong outcomes, they invest in a better future for children and taxpayers,” said W. Steven Barnett Ph.D., NIEER’s senior director and founder. “Kentucky has moved in the wrong direction recently with lower preschool enrollment. The state has work to do if they decide to move towards expanded access to high quality preschool services in a robust mixed delivery system.”
The findings reinforce the Prichard Committee’s Big Bold Future agenda, which calls for expanded early learning access as the foundation of Kentucky’s education and workforce pipeline. States that outperform Kentucky—including Georgia, West Virginia, Florida and Alabama—do so through mixed‑delivery preschool systems that leverage public schools, child care centers, Head Start and community‑based providers under shared quality standards.
“Early childhood education is the starting point for everything that follows,” said Brigitte Blom, President and CEO of the Prichard Committee. “Strengthening learning outcomes, supporting working families and growing Kentucky’s economy all rely on an early learning state infrastructure that effectively creates the conditions for a thriving community-based system of collaboration that supports all of our littlest learners.”
Despite meeting 8 of 10 NIEER quality benchmarks, Kentucky’s largely flat state funding has eroded purchasing power and constrained access. The Prichard Committee is calling for intentional investment in a coordinated, mixed‑delivery approach that strengthens infrastructure, sustains quality, and expands access statewide.
“A strong early learning system works best when public schools, child care, Head Start and community partners operate as one system,” said Rina Gratz, Director of Early Childhood and Primary Education Policy and Practice at the Prichard Committee. “That coordination is essential to expanding access while maintaining quality across the birth‑to‑five continuum.”
See a full analysis of the NIEER data and what it means for Kentucky on the Prichard Committee’s EdBlog.
About the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence
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.