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Value of Community Preschools
June 25, 2013
One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade.
-Chinese proverb
-Chinese proverb
President Obama's "Preschool for All" proposal calls for directing funding for low- and moderate-income 4-year-olds through the public schools. Many advocates are encouraging the administration to maintain the positive features of the current mixed delivery system. A recent New York Times article, "Private Preschools See More Public Funds as Classes Grow," shared some interesting points about a mixed delivery system:
"Starting this fall, under an expansion led by [Chicago] Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the number of Catholic schools in the city receiving taxpayer money for preschool will nearly double. Across the country, states and districts are increasingly funneling public funds to religious schools, private nursery schools, and a variety of community-based nonprofit organizations that conduct preschool classes.
"According to the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, about one-third of students enrolled in state-financed preschool programs attend classes conducted outside the public schools. In some states, the proportion is much higher: in New Jersey, close to 60 percent of students in publicly financed preschool are enrolled in private, nonprofit, or Head Start centers, and in Florida, about 84 percent of 4-year-olds in state-financed prekindergarten attend classes run by private, faith-based, or family centers....
“'High-quality pre-K can happen in church basements, community centers, or within the Y.M.C.A., as long as the standards are there,' said Lisa Guernsey, the director of early education at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit policy institute....
"Frequently overcrowded public schools do not always have the space to add preschool classrooms. And many preschool classes — particularly those that serve low-income working families — are embedded in broader day care centers that operate longer days than a typical public school."
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Comments (6)
Displaying 5 of 6 Comments [ View all ]Shishu Vikash Kendra
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Hello , Early Childhood is the most important time and Golden Rising Time in human life .
I think those institutions are well where the supreme asset ( children ) are taught
well . Thank You
Nirmal
Child Friend
San Antonio, TX, United States
There are many excellent reasons for employing the mixed delivery system of early childhood education: 1) it saves time and money by using currently existing programs with proven records of high quality early childhood practices rather than re-inventing the wheel; and 2) it provides some financial security for and does not take away enrollment from such programs, to name a couple.
However, when it comes to funding faith-based early childhood programs, important considerations are maintaining the separation of church and state, a
basic tenet of our government, and since it is a federally funded program all children must have equal opportunity to the publicly funded program without religious programming at all, regardless of whether it is the child's family faith or not. We all pay the taxes to our federal government with the understanding that the money does not fund religions of any kind. I am curious how this is maintained and monitored in these programs.
San Antonio, TX, United States
Yes, a mixed delivery system is good for many reasons, e.g., it saves money and time on building new early childhood learning environments, when they exist already, and it does not take enrollment away from already existing, good quality programs. However, it is vitally important to maintain the separation of religion from programs funded with public monies.
Primary Directions
United States
How refreshing to read this article. I work with several private early childhood programs in a volunteer quality project. These programs are providing a high quality curriculum for the children from birth to 5. But this is rarely recognized with funding support from the state funds available for child care. In our state most money is directed to the public school and if you are a religious school you have little access to support. I keep wondering why we do not support proven private programs instead of continually creating new sites with the attendant costs.
Spearfish, SD, United States
Another segment of preschools are with the child care centers at the universities. This is convenient for the parents who are students. They can visit their child between classes, or have lunch with them, etc. Often the early childhood classes work with the children as part of their field experiences. This is quality time for both groups.
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