Preschool Program Launch May Be Delayed

A political fight has erupted over control of an ambitious new preschool program funded by $600 million in tobacco tax money, with some officials saying that the planned September launch date now is likely to be delayed.

The Los Angeles County First 5 Commission, which plans to enroll 100,000 children in the county over the next decade, was scheduled in June to review candidates to serve on the board of directors for the nonprofit corporation that will run operations.

But several county supervisors delayed the hearing, saying they wanted more of a voice in appointing board members and reviewing the final details.

The spat raises questions about who is answerable for the spending of millions of dollars of public money raised through Proposition 10, the 1998 voter-approved initiative that levied a 50--cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes to pay for preschool.

It also speaks to the complexity of building a brand new educational system -- already touted as a potential national model -- from the ground up.

The supervisors, who appointed most of the First 5 Commission, argue that they must play a role because if the preschool system falters or the money is misspent, they ultimately will get the blame.

But those who have been planning the preschool system said that those fears are misplaced and that, in any case, the supervisors had plenty of time to voice concerns earlier. They worry that the supervisors will try to pack the new board with political appointees and hinder its ability to nimbly address the needs of children.

The list of proposed board members created by a First 5 Commission advisory committee includes high-profile names such as Wallis Annenberg, Magic Johnson, Nancy Daly Riordan, Airport Commission President John Agoglia and state Assemblyman Marco Antonio Firebaugh, all of whom would be expected to raise millions in private funds to buttress the system. Others among the 23 individuals listed include educators, health officials, child development experts and at least two parent representatives to be named later.

Officials said all but a few have been contacted and have accepted nomination.

But several supervisors said this week that the proposed board includes too few community members and lacks regional diversity. They also questioned whether there were enough safeguards to ensure that the new nonprofit corporation is held tightly accountable.

“This has been a long process but we’re basically turning over $600 million of public funds and I think everybody has to be comfortable with it,” said Supervisor Don Knabe. “With so many dollars involved I think we don’t want to start out with a single or a double, we want a home run. I don’t think a few weeks’ delay is going to hurt anything.”

Supervisor Gloria Molina was concerned the proposed board was too heavily weighted with philanthropists at the expense of child care experts, said her aide, Roxane Marquez.

The list of proposed board members appears to include no representative from the Antelope Valley, added Raine Ritchey, an aide to Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

“Ultimately, we need more of a true public/private partnership and right now it appears to be all private,” Richey said. “The discussion right now is whether to have a separate fundraising body and public policy body. The main concern is to insure there is proper county representation and that each supervisor have an appointee on the board.”

Preschool supporters, including filmmaker Rob Reiner, chairman of the statewide First 5 Commission, launched a furious lobbying campaign, meeting with Supervisors Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Knabe this last week and scheduling meetings with the other three supervisors next week to try to quickly resolve issues.

But Karen Hill-Scott, an educational consultant who has led the planning process, said the delay will almost certainly push back school enrollment to January. With no corporate entity agreed on, planners cannot go about the business of hiring staff, selecting providers, conducting neighborhood outreach or other tasks.

“We were already up against a very short timeline,” noted Hill-Scott. “I think we will do some things in the fall related to the launch but I would prefer on the implementation side that we get things done right rather than rush to meet a deadline. We want to have time for everybody to understand clearly where we’re headed. A promise has been made to the community that something magical is going to happen for young children in the county and we really don’t want to break that promise.”

The preschool program has been more than a year and a half in the making and was scheduled to begin enrolling up to 5,000 children age 4 in the fall and adding 100,000 more children over the next decade. Home-based child care providers and existing preschools such as Head Start will be used to extend classes from half day to full day under the program. Scores of new centers are scheduled to be built.

Beth Lowe, a First 5 L.A. Commissioner who has championed the program, agreed on the importance of building a consensus but she criticized the supervisors’ timing.

“I feel like this has been such an open process and everybody had the opportunity to weigh in many times,” Lowe said. “My bottom line is that you can talk forever, then there comes a time for action and I believe that time is now.”

Others noted that supervisors, by their actions, seemed to be voicing doubt about the ability of the First 5 Commission to oversee the preschool system and its new corporate body. The panel is one of 58 such county commissions set up after the passage of Proposition 10. Los Angeles County received about $134 million of the $562 million generated statewide last year.

“If you’re going to have a board of directors that’s stacked with appointees of the supervisors so that every decision becomes a political decision, I think hands are being tied,” said Pat Phipps, executive director of the Sacramento-based California Assn. for the Education of Young Children, a professional organization of child care providers and child development specialists.

Phipps has been a member of the preschool planning team for more than a year. She said start-up funds for the new corporation were to be released on a gradual basis and its incoming executive director must report to the First 5 L.A. Commission on a monthly basis.

“I’m concerned that we had more than 140 people involved in the planning process, that a year ago we told parents there would be universal preschool available and that now, as is the case so many times, things get locked up in political turf battles. The ones who end up getting hurt are the children and families.”

First 5 L.A. Executive Director Evelyn Martinez was more optimistic. The commission has already begun to address many issues raised by the supervisors and there should be no unresolved matters at the July meeting, she said.

Some items were minor like tightening language to require the new corporation to comply with an annual audit rather than making a “best effort to comply.” And Martinez said there should be no problem with the supervisors recommending appointees.

“I think everyone understands that this is a major venture; we’re talking about trying to implement a county-wide preschool system that currently doesn’t exist,” she noted. “I would rather things happen in a manner where everyone is happy with the solution.”