Eastin’s Call for Universal Preschool in California Has Echoes Elsewhere

Preschool works. Kids start to share, overcome their shyness, venture out on field trips, learn their letters and colors. Research increasingly reinforces this: Children start forming attachments, developing (or not developing) self-confidence and learning words and concepts well before they begin school.

Which is why state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin wants to make preschool available to all California kids. She has named a task force to consider how such a program would be organized and how much it would cost. In making her case, Eastin has cited numerous reports that show that 3- and 4-year-olds who have attended preschool are more likely to be successful, academically and socially, throughout their academic careers.

But going from research to the reality of a universal preschool program for 3- and 4-year-olds means cultivating a political will that doesn’t exist in Sacramento today. There are also questions of equity, economics and education:

* Why propose a program for all 3- and 4-year-olds when not even all poor children are served at either federally financed Head Start centers or state-supported preschools?

* But if you don’t propose a program open to everyone, how will you win support from middle-income parents who often find the cost of quality preschool programs prohibitive? Their support will be imperative in order to set funding priorities and appropriate state money as well as to pass the bond issues necessary to pay for new buildings.

* Should the state design a Mercedes Benz-quality program when it may have difficulty paying for a Ford? Even with Proposition 98 guaranteeing certain levels of education funding from year to year, how does the state want to divide its money among new initiatives? Should it focus on early-childhood programs or on further reducing class sizes, adding more days to the school year, improving staff development or wiring more classrooms for computers? And, if part of the program operates through public schools, where will the space come from? Many elementary schools in the neighborhoods that might most need preschools are already overcrowded.

* If programs run half a day, as they do at many Head Start centers so more children can be served, what will happen to children who need full-day care because their parents work?

* Who will run the preschool programs--public schools, in which many parents have little faith, or private nonprofit groups, many of which already run Head Start or day-care programs? Will high education standards force out some people who work well with children but lack college training? How much stress will be placed on working not just with children but also with their families, as Head Start does?

Head Start may indeed be a productive model for a statewide preschool program. Allowing a variety of organizations, including public-school systems, nonprofit service agencies, churches and synagogues, to run the programs helps serve individual communities’ needs. The most successful programs, furthermore, get parents off the sidelines and into working with their children. Eastin’s task force should stress such involvement, or else the effectiveness of preschool could be compromised.

The mission can be accomplished--other states have made great strides--but experience indicates it will be a long, hard slog and expensive as well. Consider Ohio. Its preschool effort began in the 1980s with Democratic Gov. Richard F. Celeste and grew under Republican Gov. George V. Voinovich. Owen “Brad” Butler, retired head of Procter & Gamble, one of the state’s major corporations, chaired a panel that recommended that all disadvantaged 3- and 4-year-olds should have access to high-quality preschool programs. In 1990, the state started adding its own funds to federal money for Head Start. By 1999, it plans to invest $97.5 million of its state dollars in Head Start, which in Ohio enrolls 84% of the eligible children; the national average is 40%.

This state’s commitment occurred, says Mark Real of the Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, as a result of “a bipartisan effort with business leadership for locally identifiable programs.” That last part is key. Advocates said, “You’re supporting the Cincinnati Head Start” or the Lima Head Start. It was not “the government taking care of your children,” but your local public school or agency. Those involved in turning Eastin’s preschool vision into a program would be wise to focus on existing and effective local models.

Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan expects a report from his committee on early child care and education next month, one that is likely to recommend a universal, full-day, full-year program for 3- and 4-year-olds, as well as improved staff development and compensation. New York has already enacted legislation for a universal pre-kindergarten program for 4-year-olds and will spend $50 million to get it started next year. Georgia is using some of its lottery money to expand child care for 4-year-olds.

But business support is vital. A McDonald’s manager knows firsthand the need for workers who can add and follow directions, but too many heads of corporations where the best jobs are found are far removed from workplace realities. They must be drawn more directly into this issue.

“I don’t know how anyone across the political spectrum could not view this as important,” says Assemblywoman Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento), a member of the California preschool task force. President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, have focused on the issue, the scientific evidence supports it and the murder trial of the young British au pair in Massachusetts drew national attention to it. Ortiz thinks the issue of providing a universal preschool program would play well with Democratic and Republican women if it could be injected into next year’s gubernatorial race.

The task force has started its work. Its members should aim high and avoid settling for second best, too often the lot of early childhood education. Then they must convince politicians to do what will prove not only right for children but smart for business and the state for decades to come.*