American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten will join two Cabinet secretaries and the director of a nationally respected research institute Monday morning for the release of the institute’s annual comprehensive report on the state of preschool across the United States.
The new report from the Rutgers University-based National Institute for Early Education Research shows that drastic cuts in resources at the state level have brought support for early education to a 10-year low. State funding for pre-K programs recorded the largest drop ever in the 2011-12 school year.
Addressing the report’s findings will be Weingarten, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, NIEER Director Steven Barnett, Vanguard Chairman Emeritus Jack Brennan and Celia Ayala, chief executive officer of Los Angeles Universal Preschool.
