After a few years of progress in developing better quality preschool classes in Florida, the state's pre-kindergarten program is being looked at for cuts by the Florida Legislature. The state's lawmakers meet for 60 days every year, beginning in March, to decide how much they'll spend on education. Next month they will be looking at a $29 million budget shortfall in statewide pre-K programs, according to a story this week in the Orlando Sentinel.

Those cuts would hurt quality in a pre-K program that is already among the poorest in the nation, according to national rankings. In a report from the National Institute for Early Education Research, Florida ranked 34th out of 38 states that fund pre-K programs, spending about $2,500 per child in 2008 compared with an average of more than $4,000.

As reported by the Tampa Tribune last year, the NIEER also graded Florida poorly for quality programming, because Florida's pre-K teachers don't need bachelor's degrees unless they work in the summer voluntary program, and during the school year, Florida requires only one teacher in each pre-K class to have a child development associate credential. The state also gets low marks for not providing teachers with more training or offering children at least one meal a day, and no vision, hearing and health screenings.

Part of Florida's problem has been growing enrollment in preschool, which is popular with parents and helping improve school readiness among kindergarteners. The statewide deficit is projected to balloon to at least $42 million next year if enrollment continues on track and with no more cuts, according to the Agency for Workforce Innovation. Last year, lawmakers cut the pre-K budget in mid-year, cutting money to run the classes and supervise pre-K sites.

"What you will see is an erosion of quality," said Karen Willis, executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County, which expects to be out of pre-K money in May.

More than 141,000 children are enrolled in pre-K programs in Florida, which include private schools and child-care centers and public schools.