Report says Missouri is one of the worst states in US for early education. Here’s why
Heading into the back-to-school season, a new national report has ranked Missouri as one of the worst states in the country for early education.
The report showing Missouri as the fourth worst in the United States comes from WalletHub, a personal finance website. The report compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three factors: access, quality, resources and economic support.
Within those factors, it measured metrics like the share of school districts that offer preschool programs and the share of children aged 3 and 4 enrolled, income requirements for state preschool eligibility and the total reported spending per child enrolled in preschool.
According to the National Education Association, children enrolled in early education programs are more likely to be academically prepared for later grades.
In recent years, Missouri has provided some of the lowest levels of state aid to schools in the country. A report by former Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway released in 2021 found Missouri ranked 49th in state school resources.
WalletHub reported that the state finished 43rd in the U.S. in the share of children ages 3 and 4 enrolled in pre-K, special education and Head Start programs.
Some of Missouri’s other rankings in WalletHub’s study include:
- 36th in total reported spending per child enrolled
- 14th in total state Head Start program spending per child enrolled
- 49th in Pre-K program growth
- 41st in the change in state spending per child enrolled
Using these rankings, WalletHub calculated Missouri’s overall score to be 34.77. For comparison, Arkansas finished No. 1 in the rankings with an overall score of 76.10.
Missouri was the fourth worst in the quality of early education systems, 38th in access and 37th in resources and economic support.
The state finished above Indiana, the worst state in WalletHub’s rankings, followed by Minnesota and Massachusetts.
Kansas finished 30th in WalletHub’s rankings with an overall score of 49.69, with the third-best access to early education in the United States and the second-worst in quality of early education.
