A New Day for L.A. Preschools

A $600-million landmark venture that aims to improve child-care choices and eventually lower preschool costs for most Los Angeles County families with a 4-year-old will be launched today, when the first check is handed over to an Eastside children’s center.

Although the Los Angeles Universal Preschool Program begins with a modest $9,149 payment to the Union Pacific Children’s Center of the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles, it represents the start of an ambitious countywide system that over the next decade will enroll 100,000 pre-kindergarten children -- or 70% of the 4-year-old population -- regardless of family income.

For parents, the program promises to relieve waiting lists at crowded preschools, open new facilities in underserved areas, provide a five-star rating system to help determine the quality of schools and introduce a new fee structure.

For many educators and child-care professionals, today’s events are the realization of a long-held dream.

“It’s a terrifically exciting time,” said Elizabeth Hamilton Lowe, chairwoman of the Los Angeles Universal Preschool board of directors. “When you see the children actively engaged and enjoying the learning process -- that’s the reward for all we’ve had to go through.”

Universal preschool is the most notable program to emerge from First 5 LA, a nonprofit formed to use tobacco tax revenue to fund early childhood development, health and education programs.

With backing from filmmaker Rob Reiner, California voters in 1998 approved a 50-cents-a-pack tax to fund such efforts. The agency is staking much of its credibility, as well as millions in public funds, on the success of its preschool effort.

“We’ve been involved in other programs like family literacy, school readiness and healthcare, but I think the preschool program is the culmination of a lot of those efforts, and it’s the kind of issue that people can get their arms around,” said First 5 LA Executive Director Evelyn V. Martinez.

Many experts say universal preschool could reshape the landscape of early childhood education in the county and beyond.

The challenge involves fusing together the current disparate systems of public and private preschool centers and day-care nurseries into a cohesive and user-friendly whole, establishing a single set of high-level credentials for all workers, and raising salaries and benefits in an industry long beset by low pay and high turnover.

During the first year of the preschool system, which is viewed as a pilot period, from $20 million to $30 million in funding will be distributed for:

* One hundred approved centers -- 20 in each county supervisorial district.

* One hundred home-based family child-care providers, which will be evaluated and funded based on the same five-star rating system as centers. The L.A. preschool program has contracted with five community organizations to recruit the providers, which are expected to be chosen by summer’s end.

* Sixteen sites where new preschool slots will be created in the most severely underserved areas of the county.

* Five centers that will provide access to children with special physical or mental needs. These centers will also be assigned star ratings but will receive more funding based on the higher costs of providing services.

To qualify for program funding, pre-kindergarten classrooms must pass an inspection and receive at least three stars in a five-star system.

Participation in the program is voluntary, but interest is high. About 600 schools applied for funding in the first year alone, outstripping the program’s pilot year capacity.

So far, contracts have been offered to 22 centers, which include 41 classrooms and 800 children. They include a five-star site in Northridge, four-star sites in Hollywood, Valencia and Burbank, and three-star sites in Pasadena, Compton and Long Beach.

At the four-star Emerson Children’s Center in Burbank, teacher Jennifer Dance said “everyone was thrilled” on learning they had been accepted to the program. “Just to know that we run a quality center was really great and felt good for all of us.”

Dance supervises 19 4-year-olds and three teaching assistants in her classroom, which is operated by the Burbank Unified School District. The center operates year-round and offers preschool activities from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for mostly low-income families. The center was established during World War II. Dance said her wish list for new funds included upgrading 60-year-old furniture, buying more toys, puzzles and library books, and enhancing training for the classroom’s staff.

Goldie Bemel, director of child development for the Burbank school district, said contract terms were close to being finalized and that parents would be included in decisions on how to spend new funds.

The universal preschool program has established a funding base for each child, depending on the school’s star rating. A five-star center receives $550 per child each month; a four-star, $476; and a three-star, $440. The money pays for 3 1/2 hours of preschool a day.

Students who already get public subsidies will continue to do so. The preschool program will subtract those subsidies from its monthly per-child rate.

For parents whose children do not receive subsidies, the new preschool program stands to change the way they pay tuition.

The parents of children who attend schools in the program will be required to pay providers what is called a “parent investment fee.” This will be an annual charge that will range from $100 for families earning up to $31,885 to $3,500 for families earning up to $200,001. Families with incomes below $26,742 will pay no fee.

Parents will be able to pay the fee on a monthly basis. The program will not pay for day-care expenses outside the 3 1/2 hours of preschool instruction.

Waivers for program fees will be offered to foster parents, teenage parents in the probation system, parents with learning-disabled children and those with children under the supervision of the Department of Children and Family Services.

Planners say the fee schedule will not only save most families substantial child-care costs, but it also will also give them a sense of ownership in the system, which still faces formidable hurdles.

“It may take five years to get substantial numbers of facilities and spaces developed, and before consumers will think of preschool as a household word,” noted Karen Hill-Scott, the education consultant who guided the preschool initiative through its planning stages.

In the meantime, parents will be exhorted to become more involved in their child’s early education -- volunteering at a center for instance, or taking a parenting class or participating in a community event. A successful program, experts said, could mean better grades in elementary and high school, better job opportunities and eventually a better economy.

All the while, the program hopes to avoid the pitfalls of a typical bureaucracy by remaining accountable and nimble enough to adapt programs to changing needs.

Though a few states such as Georgia, Florida and New York have invested in universal preschool programs, there seems to be no template for what Los Angeles County is attempting.

“I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this before,” filmmaker Reiner said. “Think about the impact: Not only will we strengthen the K-12 system, we’re giving children a chance at a level playing field so that they can [succeed] in school and go on and succeed in life.”