Prince William County qualified for enough state funding this year to provide pre-kindergarten classes to more than 1,600 children from low-income families. But the county turned down nearly all of that money and instead serves just 72 children in four classrooms.
Manassas Park was eligible for state funding to help 104 children prepare for kindergarten, but its program serves just 36.
Across Virginia, about $23 million designated for preschool was left on the table because localities — citing limited resources, lack of classroom space and politics — did not contribute the required matching funds to take full advantage of the program. As a result, more than 6,000 disadvantaged children missed the opportunity to go to school before kindergarten.
As President Obama advocates a dramatic expansion of publicly funded preschool to address the achievement gap between children from rich and poor families, Virginia and many other states are struggling with low participation in underfunded preschool programs. In New York City, for example, the new mayor, Bill de Blasio, campaigned to expand a preschool program that claimed to be universal but is under-enrolled because of scarce funding and facilities.
Advocates argue that there are few educational programs that can help boost poor children more than access to quality preschool and that when school districts fail to participate they’re leaving children behind.
“These kids are the neediest of the needy,” said Pat Victorson, an early childhood educator and advocate in Prince William. “If you don’t serve these children when they are young, that’s a huge lost opportunity.”
In Northern Virginia, Prince William and Manassas Park, which is an independent city surrounded by the county, were not the only districts to turn down funding. Fairfax County, which maintains a wait list of about 660 children for its public pre-kindergarten programs, served just more than half of the 2,587 children the state determined were eligible this year. Loudoun qualified for funding for 544 children but served 287.
Not all is equal. 90% of Virginia localities utilize this money which has been in place since 1995. The Northern Virginia localities are expected to put up more and receive less than ‘down state’ jurisdictions. Fair? Not so much.
The formula is especially tough for Northern Virginia districts, though, because they receive less state funding but pay much more for staffing and facilities. Many educators say that $6,000 is an unrealistically low figure for providing preschool classes.
The National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, which tracks preschool spending, estimates the average per-child cost for a high-quality preschool program in Virginia would be $9,327. That figure reflects the cost of living and certain quality benchmarks, including low classroom size, a teacher with a bachelor’s degree, and an assistant.
“You can see why school districts would balk at $6,000,” said W. Steven Barnett, the institute’s director. “The amount of money that the state is offering is too little to do this, so districts that can’t make up the difference just aren’t going to do it.”
Kids from economically disadvantaged homes are the most at risk and are simply missing out. Study after study show that children who have early intervention at ages 3 and 4 are more likely to achieve success in ‘real school’ than their counter-parts who have no intervention. It’s a simple fact that kids who start kindergarten knowing shapes, colors, basic counting and letters are far ahead of those who do not. Kids who have been read to learn to read with far less difficulty. Pre-school exposure can make a huge difference in student success all the way through school.
Intervention is especially important for kids who live in poverty and kids who don’t speak English as a first language. We assume that citizen children grow up speaking English. Not necessarily, especially if their parents are not English-speakers. Often, these same children go to baby sitters who do not speak English. The result is citizen children who spend many years in ESOL classes.
Economically disadvantaged English speaking students run into a different plight. Part of that plight locally is that we are just so damn middle class. Kids who grow up without books or magazines in the house just don’t learn to read at the same pace. Kids who don’t have crayons or scissors are lacking in critical skills. Things that we take for granted in middle class homes often are missing from homes where severe poverty exists. Additionally, economically disadvantaged kids go to day care and baby sitters who specialize in volume. Poor parents aren’t able to pay for the pre-school program. Poor parents often do not have time to read to their kids. Some are working 2-3 jobs to make ends meet.
Not everyone agrees, however. Sometimes it just helps to be a politician rather than an educator:
Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Prince William) said he is unlikely to support additional funding for a government preschool program, since some studies show that academic advantages from preschool fade over time. He said the most important skills that children need in kindergarten are social and emotional and can be learned in day care or at home, so he supports improving the quality of child-care settings.
Some studies blah blah blah. Yes, social skills are very important. So are academic skills like those mentioned above. I am not exactly sure what ’emotional skills’ are and how they are taught or learned, for that matter. I think the good delegate is pulling those emotional skills out of his ears. The quality of child care settings do need to improve. However, those are in people’s homes. How is those home care services improve? There are no regulations that say a day care provider has to be educated. I expect some can’t read or write. Del. Lingamfelter needs to get a better grip on educational matters or just keep quiet. His remarks are asinine and counter to the body of knowledge that we have concerning early childhood intervention.
Hopefully, the General Assembly will make it more possible for jurisdictions like Prince William County and Manassas Park to fully utilize state funding for these youngsters. Ages 3 and 4 are excellent learning opportunities, often more so than when the children get older. However, the tax payers balk and classrooms are already overcrowded. We can’t go very far with this initiative, especially if our own delegates won’t back up early childhood intervention. I wonder if Del. Lingamfelter bothered to check with Prince William County school officials. They have a whole team of early childhood specialists there who might know a lot more about this issue than Limgamfelter and who might suggest that he vote a lot differently than what he says he will do.
Shame on Lingamfelter. The children of Prince William County need his support. It doesn’t sound like they are going to get it.
even IF the study Lingamfelter is siting is true, that is even MORE reason to get kids into a supportive social and educational environment.
One study, everything I have read for the past million years indicates that pre school is ideal for headstart, to avoid having to play catch up the rest of the student’s life.
I want to know what emotional skills are. What is he talking about? Obviously he doesn’t know.
I imagine he pulled it out of his nether region!