No hole in the apple for Governor Bentley on this one . . .

Governor Bentley has proposed that Alabama's budget for voluntary pre-kindergarten education be increased by 65 percent.  An increase of this amount would raise the percentage of Alabama's four year olds attending public pre-k from 6 percent to almost ten percent.  A recent story posted on the governor's website told of the governor visiting some of the pre-k's as part of his push to expand the program.

According to the story, Alabama's voluntary pre-k model is one of the top programs in the nation.  Access to the program has not been nearly so successful.  It appears that Governor Bentley is pushing hard to address that problem.

The governor has indicated that the expense of the program prohibits immediate expansion to one hundred percent of the state's children, but it is his stated goal to gradually expand it to do so with incremental budget expansions.

Thank-you Governor.

I have been critical of some of the Governor's policies.  But tonight, I want to give credit where credit is due.

I have not analyzed the program or the policies that back it up.  I am sure someone will be against it for some reason.

But, it appears that in this instance, the Governor has recognized that we are on the right track with something, and is doing what he can to help it be even better, even as our State is financially strapped. He did not insist on getting it all done in one year. I am sure he wishes that were possible. Instead, as the conservative that he is, he chose the slower approach.  It is the wise thing to do.

President Obama, in his State of the Union address a few weeks ago, listed universal pre-k as one of his legislative goals.

But this time it appears that Alabama is ahead of much of the rest of the nation in doing something good, something that the rest of the nation recognizes as excellent.

And that feels good.

It is a feeling I want to get used to.

As one who often discourages the Governor from certain actions, I want to encourage him on such positive leadership.  And I hope you will too.  Go to the Governor's contact page to do so. Do it now.

Thanks.