3.4. Mandatory Pre-K in West Virginia: Unintended Consequences

In 2002, the West Virginia Legislature enacted a law requiring that by the 2012-2013 school year, all 55 counties in the state had to provide a Universal Pre-K space to all 4-year-olds and certain 3-year-olds with special needs [106]. Currently, West Virginia is one of six states serving between 61 percent and 80 percent of the state’s 4-year old population through its Universal Pre-K program, with 76 percent of 4-year-old participation in the 2017-2018 school year [107]. Nevertheless, West Virginia’s Universal Pre-K law inadvertently led to a decrease in the already limited supply of infant and toddler care [108]. 

According to a representative with Playmates, West Virginia lost a significant number of child care centers within the first years of its universal preschool program implementation. The main reason so many providers went out of business is because they lost an important source of revenue: child care for preschoolers. As a means to offset the high costs of providing infant and toddler care, providers often rely on revenue generated from providing care to older children (higher staff-child ratio and less stringent regulations are some of the reasons care for preschoolers is less expensive). In actuality, child care businesses simply cannot operate without having preschoolers in their programs.

At the same time, the Universal Pre-K law in West Virginia requires that at least 50 percent of classrooms funded by the program are to be offered in collaboration with community partners, including child care centers and Head Start programs (as of 2017-2018, 82 percent of all West Virginia Pre-K classrooms are collaborative [109], according to the Office of Early and Elementary Learning 2018 Annual Report [110]). This mandate helped to alleviate some of the impact of the law on community-based child care providers.