State raises stakes in LA4
by Mike Hasten - The Daily Advertiser (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE - Parents of 4-year-olds across the state will have a chance this fall to give their children a jump-start toward success in school, a boost that is showing positive results in classrooms in the parishes where an innovative program exists.

Louisiana is investing another $26.5 million, bringing total funding to $86.5 million, to expand the newly renamed Cecil J. Picard LA4 Early Childhood Program to all school systems in the state.

The program, started as a small pilot initiative by the late state Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard solely with federal funds, has gained national recognition and is being used as a model by other states.

That investment will enable 4,600 more 4-year-olds to participate in the program this year. It's enough to lure 15 school districts that offered other kinds of Pre-K programs to switch to LA4.

The Cecil Picard Center for Child Development at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette has tracked participants of LA4 and has found "they outperformed the children who have not gone through the program," Morgan said.