Universal Pre-School from the Perspective of a Parent

The measure provides that county offices of education administer the program by determining who will provide the service. Nothing mandates that it has to be run through existing public schools. The practical reality is that it will most likely be run through existing child care providers for the simple reason that few parents who currently have their kids in full time childcare are going to pull them out in favor of a mere three hour program. Nor is this diverting money to “privatization.” Many if not most child care providers already receive state child care funds. My son has been enrolled in two childcare providers serving economically diverse populations and I’ve been –required- to apply for subsidized care whether I need it for not as a condition of the service receiving state aid. What Prop 82 would do is expand this system even further by requiring and offering a higher and more level of training for preschool providers than we currently enjoy. A 1 to 8 teacher to child ratio isn’t perfect but it’s a heckuva lot better than the up to 1 to 20 ratios they’ll see in kindergarten (and which teachers fought for years to get). It should be good enough to do the job.

Yes, middle class kids will benefit too, but then we don’t set a sliding scale for public schools, do we? It also brings middle class voters in to support it at the polls, which is critical for any ballot box tax increase.

The educational reality is, as I learned when my son brought home homework during his second week in kindergarten, is that we’ve essentially added another grade to public school. Kindergarten used to be where kids learned ABC and 123 and how to line up properly. Now, these skills are presumed from the first day. One of my son’s kindergarten classmates actually “flunked” kindergarten because he didn’t have these skills. It seems to make good sense to formally acknowledge this evolution and start public education at the earlier age we’ve effectively mandated for it already. Public education has always been free and universally available. Why should universal preschool education be different?

Here’s a quick, highly readable summary of the proposal recently produced by the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Terry Preston is a proud native Californian who has been active in state and local politics for over twenty years. He began as a research analyst at the California Judicial Council prior to serving as a legislative assistant to Assemblymember Elihu Harris. He is currently a market and policy advisor and lives with his wife, a teacher, and his son in the Natomas area of Sacramento.