County OKs Preschool Expansion

The Los Angeles County First 5 Commission on Thursday approved an ambitious plan that aims to enroll thousands of 4-year-olds in preschools in September and about 100,000 over the next decade.

The commission, which distributes money dedicated to children’s health and education from the Proposition 10 tobacco tax, previously committed $600 million over the next five years to begin the program.

“What we did today was historic for the children of Los Angeles County,” said county Supervisor Don Knabe, who heads the commission.

Some important details remain to be decided, such as whether the classes would be free to families or offered on a sliding-scale fee based on income.

Existing preschools and home-based child centers are expected to join the new system and receive some financial support. The plan also seeks to create 32,000 additional spaces for children over the next 10 years. The commission will soon begin targeting specific neighborhoods for new facilities, finding land and drawing up designs.

In September, 4,000 to 10,000 4-year-olds are expected to enroll, according to the plan. The panel decided not to include 3-year-olds because of cost and the reluctance of some parents to put children that young in school.

Researchers say that there are more than 153,000 4-year-olds in the county, but that only about 49% attend preschool. The goal is to boost that figure to 70%, which would require the hiring of an additional 10,000 teachers and teaching assistants over the decade.

The panel decided Thursday to create a nonprofit corporation to run the program, despite misgivings by some commissioners about how that agency would work. In addition, some were concerned that the Los Angeles County Office of Education had too small a role in the program’s planning and that the new organization might overlap with it.

Renatta Cooper, an educator who represents the county office on the commission, said the county wanted to be considered as the potential administrator of the new preschool program because it already helped run related programs such as Head Start.

County education Supt. Darline Robles was on the First 5 preschool advisory team, and she is expected to join the new transition team so her office will have input.

Karen Hill-Scott, an education consultant who drew up the master plan, said Thursday’s vote allows planners to get down to such nitty-gritty details as appointing a board of directors for the new nonprofit organization.

“We can sit down now and begin searching for staff and thinking about how many sites we can really do,” she said. “It takes the edge off of the ambiguity.”

By the end of the second year, preschools in the system will be rated in such areas as administration, staff qualification, curriculum, environment, health and safety, family and community relationships, and nutrition. The scores will help determine reimbursement rates and help parents select programs.

Proposition 10, also known as the California Children and Families First Act, was approved by voters in 1998 to help children during their first five years.

It levies a 50-cents-a-pack tax on cigarettes, with use of that revenue overseen by a statewide and county panels.

Los Angeles County received about $134 million of the $562 million generated across California last year.