Talk vs. action: Keep your eye on Pre-K |
On Board Online • November 19, 2012
By Cathy Woodruff
Senior writer
Two lines of public conversation about education in New York – one centered on boosting student achievement and the other on helping school districts cope with a tightening financial vise – are converging in a surprising place: the pre-kindergarten classroom.
Money spent on pre-K will help more students succeed and reduce government expenditures ranging from remedial education to prisons, advocates say.
“We have a belief that this is a place, even in a time of constrained financial resources, where we can have an impact” on college- and career-readiness, Regent James Tallon said as he led a discussion of the board’s State Aid Subcommittee last month.
Spending more on pre-K also could be a politically popular recommendation for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Education Reform Commission. Over months of hearings throughout the state, the commission has repeatedly heard testimony citing research showing that children who attend pre-K programs are less likely to require costly remedial services later and more likely to succeed in high school and college.
“Please consider a renewed and urgent comprehensive plan for early childhood,” Regents Chancellor Emeritus Robert M. Bennett urged in his July testimony to the commission.
The Regents’ state aid proposal, citing research, estimates that every $1 spent on pre-K programs saves taxpayers approximately $7 by reducing spending on remedial, special education, welfare and criminal justice services. Also, by reducing the need for students to repeat grades and receive special education services, pre-K programs can offset costs of primary grade education by 41 to 62 percent, according to the proposal.
This is not a new concept. Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) was among the promises of a statutory funding formula launched by state lawmakers in 1998.
But a shared local/state funding scheme has hampered participation, particularly in low-wealth districts classified as “high need” by the State Education Department (SED). In high-need urban and suburban districts, only two-thirds of 4-year-olds are enrolled in a UPK program. Of those students, the large majority – 74 percent – are in half-day programs instead of full-day.
Just over half of 4-year-olds in rural high-need districts are enrolled in UPK, with 80 percent of them in half-day programs. A third of 4-year-olds in “average need” districts are enrolled in UPK, and 91 cent of those students are in half-day programs.
The Regents are calling on the Legislature to take pre-K more seriously. “It is in the state’s long-term educational and economic interests to enable the most at-risk four-year-old children – i.e. those in poverty who are at the greatest risk of educational achievement gaps – to participate in full-day UPK programs,” the current draft of the Regents 2013-14 state aid proposal says.
Meanwhile, a coalition of early childhood education advocates that includes the Alliance for Quality Education, Citizen Action of New York and Winning Beginning NY is recommending that the state establish a “Ready for Kindergarten Innovation Fund” to ensure that funding for pre-K programs is sustained and will not be funded at the expense of K-12 programs.
According to the coalition, which operates under the name “Ready for Kindergarten, Ready for College,” students who complete high-quality early care and education programs are 40 percent less likely to require costly remedial services while in school, saving an estimated $2,500 to $9,500 per child.
Another form of early childhood education – pre-school programs for children with learning, developmental and other disabilities funded through county governments – remains in the spotlight because of the heavy burden it places on county budgets, which are staggering under the growing weight of heavy state-mandated costs.
According to the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC), New York is the only state that requires counties to fund pre-school special education. In 2011, the association estimated that counties paid some $450 million per year for their 40 percent share of those costs.
NYSAC praises providing the services as “sound public policy” but contends that they could be more sensibly and efficiently delivered through school systems. In either case, however, NYSAC leaders say current funding structures place too much of the burden on property taxpayers.
“The schools should do it, but we can’t shift it to the school districts. They can’t afford it, and neither can their taxpayers,” NYSAC Executive Director Stephen Acquario said during a Rockefeller Institute forum on mandate relief.
A Cuomo budget proposal this year to move pre-school special education costs from counties to school districts was rejected by legislators.
During the Rockefeller Institute mandate relief forum, Cuomo’s budget director, Robert Megna described pre-K special education funding as a costly problem that, because of the acknowledged value and popularity, is particularly difficult to address.
Megna argues that a large share of the solution for preserving early special education and making it more affordable will be with reforms to the delivery process – which is through contracts with private agency providers. New York is the only state that relies on private contractors, many of which are for-profit companies, to provide pre-K special education.
“It is in our common interest to fix a program that is growing at an unsustainable rate. We need to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse – of which there is plenty – and that’s something we can only do together,” Megna said. “It’s not a question about providing the program. It’s just a program that we think needs to be reformed.”
Recent audits from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli have detailed millions of dollars in fraud by the companies that provide special educational services. DiNapoli has called on both state and local officials to improve their oversight of special-education providers.
Education Commissioner John B. King Jr., who serves on Cuomo’s commission, frequently stresses the value of pre-K for improving social, emotional and educational development while paying off later with reduced costs for school remediation – and even for prison stays.
“It’s one of the best investments we can make,” he told NYSSBA members at the Annual Convention in Rochester last month.