Public 4K in South Carolina: An Overview of Existing Programs and Considerations for Decision Makers

Many South Carolinians have long recognized the importance of high-quality early childhood education. The state was among the first to implement both a universal full-day 5K kindergarten and a limited state-funded 4K prog ram. During the 2010-2011 school year, 51% of South Carolina’s four-year-olds attended a publicly-funded 4K program. These offerings are provided at a cost to taxpayers of $135 million through a combination of local, state, and federal sources of funding.1The state currently offers several avenues for 4K, including South Carolina’s school district-based Half-Day Child Development Program, both public-school and private center-based sites of the Child Development Education Pilot Program (CDEPP), and federally-funded Head Start programs, with the majority of students served through non-CDEPP public 4K (see Figure 1).
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