January 30, 2007 - April Garrett is not afraid to admit she was wrong.

She thought her daughter Gracie would be better off not going to pre-kindergarten. She thought she could give her a jump start at home. She thought one year wouldn't make that much of a difference.

But with younger daughters Emma and Lainie eligible for pre-kindergarten in August, the Williamson County mother admits that she's having second thoughts.

"Gracie went to kindergarten without pre-K, and I've seen where she's struggles and other kids who've had pre-K are going through it well," she said. "It changed my mind."

Garrett is one of a growing number of Tennessee parents interested in pre-K, according to a study released by the Department of Education on Monday.

This time around, she'll enroll her twins in pre-kindergarten at College Grove Elementary School.

"Children are required to learn a tremendous amount in kindergarten. Now, they're coming out reading and doing math," Garrett said. "(Pre-K) is a big help for them. It prepares them for how much they have to learn."

Across the state, more than 75 percent of all public school districts plan to open at least one new pre-K classroom, if state funding is approved. That means an additional 337 pre-K classrooms could be operating next year, according to the study.

Demand is tremendous

In Davidson County, the school district reported that it would like to have 20 more classrooms, 10 for "at-risk" students who get first priority because they are poor or have a learning disability, and 10 more for other students.

In Rutherford County, school officials asked to open seven classes for at-risk students and nine for other children, according to the study.

Even school districts that didn't apply for new pre-K classrooms, such as Murfreesboro city schools, say there's a tremendous demand for the program, but they have no room for it.

"It's not that we wouldn't love to have some more pre-K classes," said Danielle Kaminsky, the district's coordinator of instruction. "We've got 14 kids on the waiting list, but all the classes are filled. We're bursting at the seams."

And the program isn't cheap.

Each pre-K classroom costs $107,000 to operate and serves 20 students, according to Katharine Mosher, spokeswoman for the Department of Education. Some of the cost is absorbed by the state; the rest is funded through local dollars.

Advocates, including Gov. Phil Bredesen, who brought the pre-K program to Tennessee, say it's worth the money. During the last two years, Tennessee invested an additional $80 million to fund 529 new pre-K classrooms in Tennessee.

"We knew we had not satisfied all the existing need. This survey's results quantify what a reasonable next step should be," Bredesen said in a statement.

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