Gov. Andy Beshear has been pushing for universal Pre-K for All since he took office.
His office recently released a list of local Kentucky chambers of commerce who support the initiative – which would fund preschool for all children in the commonwealth.
The Henderson Chamber of Commerce was not among the chambers listed – leading local community members to question the Chamber’s stance on childcare and early childhood education.
The Henderson Chamber of Commerce said it released the following statement to maintain transparency and clarify its processes for vetting legislative policies.
The Henderson Chamber said it believes it is critical for the Kentucky General Assembly to address child care availability and affordability during the 2026 session. Supporting working families and strengthening the workforce through increased access to child care and early education has been part of its public policy strategy for multiple years and is communicated regularly to legislators and community stakeholders.
Over the last several weeks, the chamber said it has been running the “Pre-K For All” proposal through an array of internal screens including our Education Committee, our Public Policy Committee, our Board of Directors, and its relationships with community stakeholders and Chamber members.
“While the goal of universal pre-K is clearly supported by the local chamber, the vetting process raised several critical policy questions, including: How much would a program like this cost, where would the additional funding come from and how would it be sustained? How would existing private childcare facilities be affected (several of whom are members)? How would curriculum be defined and program success measured? Would there be additional cost to the taxpayers? Would every child in Henderson be able to attend Pre-K at no cost, or is this a lowering of the income threshold to receive government assistance? Our staff communicated several times with representatives from the Governor’s office, and while several questions were answered, many could not be answered at this stage in the initiative, as they had not yet been defined.
“As a wholly non-partisan organization, the chamber said it believes its duty to its members is to educate, advocate, and act in the best interest of the Henderson business community, with no bias for party lines. As we monitor news about the upcoming legislative session and follow information released by the Kentucky Chamber, we understand that there are multiple proposals on the table to address this issue. Bearing this in mind, the board supports the Public Policy Committee’s decision to continue seeking information, monitoring the legislative session, and placing support behind any proposals that fully align with our members’ interests.”
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