Preschool for All Really Means Just That

Below the cut is the latest message from Councilman Tim Burgess about the outcome of the vote on 1A versus 1B.  I am putting it up for a single reason - because so many people believe that this program was aimed at and will give preference to enroll mostly low-income tikes.

It's just not true.  Currently, there is NO mechanism or "bump" to allow low-income students to the head of the line.  Placement of the preschools could very well decide who enrolls and that may very well be low-income students.

But these preschools are open to all so when I hear "we had to do something for these kids," I sigh because that's not the way the measure was written.

I'll pull out the pertinent phrases sans "low-income":

• Seattle's children
• best prepare children
• to encourage economically mixed and culturally diverse classrooms 
• our children

He also says this which, to the best of my recollection, I have never seen before (and certainly not during the campaign): full day preschool (6 hours per day, 5 days a week) and wrap-around care.  See that last phrase "wrap-around care?"  Going to add a lot of costs to the program.  You would also need to find space that has room for a preschool AND likely already has childcare.

I have no doubt that as charter start to pull dollars from the Families and Education levy so will preschool.  That 25% of the F&E currently going to preschool services will likely get much bigger.  
Thank you voters for choosing the Seattle Preschool Program

Seattle voters had a clear choice on how to benefit the future generations of Seattle. I am very happy they selected the Seattle Preschool Program (Proposition 1B) crafted by Mayor Ed Murray, the City Council, early learning experts, and a wide variety of local stakeholders.

Last week's vote (69% approval of Proposition 1B) means we will take a strong first step toward universal, voluntary, high-quality and affordable preschool for Seattle’s children. It is one of the best investments we can make.

The Seattle Preschool Program is based on extensive research on how to best prepare children for kindergarten and a life of learning. We reviewed the evidence of what works, we visited preschools throughout Seattle, we talked with teachers and parents, and we visited other cities to see how they provide universal preschool. At every step in development of the program, we were keenly committed to a critical principle: Quality. 

Only quality benefits children for a lifetime. Only quality delivers an impressive return on investment for taxpayers. Only quality will enable our city to leverage dollars from the State and federal governments to provide even more preschool options for Seattle families.

This commitment to quality, based on the research and modeled after other successful cities, is embedded throughout the various elements of the Seattle Preschool Program: 

• A menu of play-based, research-based curricula
  proven to support age-appropriate learning;
• Compensation that honors preschool teachers by being in line with the pay of K-12 teachers;
• Tuition support for teachers to acquire early learning credentials that improve not only the quality of learning for the children but also career pathways for the teachers;
• Support for teachers including ongoing in-classroom coaching;
• Full day preschool (6 hours per day, 5 days a week) and wrap-around care;
• Classrooms with a teacher-to-child ratio of 1:10;
• Providers earning a good score from Washington’s “Early Achievers” quality rating and improvement system developed by the University of Washington;
• Program evaluations and feedback from kindergarten teachers to maintain high quality; and
• A sliding scale of tuition for parents to encourage economically mixed and culturally diverse classrooms which are best for all children.

Committing ourselves to quality not only promotes social justice for early learning, it delivers it. Only by doing what actually works can we close the achievement and opportunity gaps that have persistently and unfairly impacted our children of color.

As a voluntary program for both parents and providers, the Seattle Preschool Program does not divert funding away from existing programs for childcare or preschool. Nor does it require any space from the Seattle School District. The Seattle Preschool Program is an added investment that will benefit more children — up to 2,000 per year by the fourth year.

To maintain quality, we carefully ramp up the enrollment over time. Boston and other jurisdictions that have succeeded in providing quality, universal preschool advised us strongly to go slow to get it right. By Year 4, the program will be providing quality preschool to about 25% of the three- and four–year-olds likely to enroll. This is a bold step for Seattle and I hope other local cities and counties will soon follow.

There will be bumps in the road, but with a carefully crafted program committed to quality and with dedicated funds to do it right, we are on the path to transform lives.

Thanks to the voters, the Seattle Preschool Program will empower children throughout their lives with better education, better health, and better earning potential. It will reduce disparities in our community. 

Put simply, the Seattle Preschool Program will provide our children with a strong and fair start. 

My colleagues and I are deeply grateful that Seattle voters approved this program and have agreed to invest early in our children.

 

Tim Burgess
City Council President