| Overview | Health and Nutrition |
State policies that promote health, education, and strong families can help the early development and school readiness of America's youngest citizens. This profile highlights Oklahoma's policy choices alongside other contextual data related to the well-being of young children.
Trends1
Oklahoma serves more than 90 percent of 4-year-olds through public prekindergarten, Head Start, or special education programs. State funding for pre-k increased from $62 million (nominal dollars) in 2002 to $112 million in 2006. At the same time, access to child care subsidies has decreased from 185 percent of the federal poverty level in 2001 to 175 percent in 2006. When all sources of funding for child care subsidy are included, Oklahoma subsidizes more than 42,000 children and 73% receive care in child care centers while 27% receive care in family child care homes. Oklahoma has maintained the income eligibility for public health insurance since 2001 at 185 percent of the federal poverty level for young children.
Recent Developments1
In 2006, Oklahoma created the Early Childhood Initiative and appropriated $5 million to be matched by another $10 million in private funds. The state also added $2 million for parent training programs, primarily to expand the state’s Parents as Teachers program.
| Health and Nutrition |
Data Notes and Sources
Last Updated: September 3, 2008
Send us recent developments to update your state's profile.
- The trends and recent developments come from personal communications with state advocates, administrators, and policymakers. The following publications were also consulted:
Donna Cohen Ross, Aleya Horn, and Caryn Marks, Health Coverage for Children and Families in Medicaid and SCHIP: State Efforts Face New Hurdles: A 50-State Update on Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures, and Cost-Sharing Practices in Medicaid and SCHIP in 2008, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, January 2008 http://www.kff.org (accessed April 11, 2008).
W. Steven Barnett, Jason Hustedt, Allison Friedman, Judi Stevenson Boyd, and Pat Ainsworth, The State of Preschool 2007, National Institute for Early Education Research, 2007.
Karen Schulman and Helen Blank, State Child Care Assistance Policies 2007: Some Steps Forward, More Progress Needed, National Women's Law Center, September 2007.
National Center for Children in Poverty, Map and Track State Initiatives for Young Children and Families, 2000 Edition, 2000
National Conference of State Legislatures, Child Care and Early Education Legislation Highlights 2005, June 2006
National Conference of State Legislatures, Child Care and Early Education Legislation Highlights 2006, unpublished draft
National Governors Association, Front and Center education articles, 2006, http://www.nga.org
ZERO TO THREE, The Baby Monitor, 2006 Policy and Advocacy News Archive, http://www.zerotothree.org - State data were calculated from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (the March supplement) of the Current Population Survey from 2006, 2007, and 2008, representing information from calendar years 2005, 2006, and 2007. NCCP averaged three years of data because of small sample sizes in less populated states. The national data were calculated from the 2008 data, representing information from the previous calendar year.
- National and state data were calculated from the 2006 American Community Survey.