Governor Nathan Deal and First Lady kick off Georgia’s Pre-K month in Byron

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Some preschoolers at Kay Road Elementary school in Byron got a special visit, thursday.

Georgia’s First Lady, Sandra Deal and Governor Nathan Deal kicked-off Georgia’s Pre-K Month by reading to the preschool students.

Deal says she has been reading to school children, since she became Georgia’s First Lady in 2011. That is when she found out there is a link between the number of Georgia inmates and the state’s literacy rate.

“When we first went into office the statistics came out that you knew how many beds to build in our prisons by how many third graders could read and it just really hit me like an arrow,” she said.

The First Lady has visited more than 400 Georgia schools during her Read Across Georgia Campaign.

She says she wants to work with Georgia’s preschool students to encourage them to learn to read and help them avoid becoming a statistic.