Preschool Spending Shows Results

The quality of preschool centers in lower-income areas of the state is generally good, according to a pair of studies that suggest increases in government child care spending have had an impact.

Examining preschool programs and centers in Northern and Southern California, researchers found they were comparable to those profiled in other studies of middle-class neighborhoods.

“What surprised us most is how these tandem studies, drawing on independent samples of many preschools, revealed such encouraging levels of quality,” said Bruce Fuller of Policy Analysis for California Education, the research institute that released the reports today.

Exceptions to that pattern were centers serving working class Latino communities, where demand outstrips supply, and parents are caught in economic limbo.

They make too much to qualify for public aid, but not enough to pay higher fees that could improve staffing levels. As a result, the quality of preschool programs in those communities suffers, according to the reports.

The studies, compiled by researchers at UC Berkeley, Stanford and Yale universities, come at a time of heightened attention and funding for child care, driven in part by the work requirements of federal welfare reform.

In California, the research institute noted, state spending on child care and preschool programs--including federal block grants--has ballooned from $800 million in 1996 to $3.1 billion.

State child care subsidies are often tied to standards, effectively holding preschool centers to certain levels of staffing and programming.

“The state-led financing and regulatory system appears to be effective in strengthening quality, despite surrounding levels of poverty,” one of the reports concluded. At the same time, both pointed out trouble spots.

One study of 170 preschool centers and programs in lower-income communities in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties found that one-sixth of the centers failed to meet recommended class size and staffing ratios.

Only 10% of the Los Angeles County centers were open in the early morning or evenings, an issue for working parents.

And the demand for child care slots in blue-collar neighborhoods has created pressure to increase enrollments, undercutting the quality of the children’s daily experiences and potentially affecting their development, the researchers said.

“We seem to be doing OK by poor kids but not by blue-collar kids,” observed Emlei Kuboyama, the research institute’s policy development director.

Nonetheless, the preschool centers examined generally had small classes, low numbers of children per adult staff members, and well-trained, resourceful program directors, the institute reported.