State May Let More Public
Schools Offer Pre-K Classes
by Leslie Postal, Orlando
Sentinel, February 25, 2005
Public schools, largely written out of Florida's new pre-kindergarten
program, might be back in the game as state leaders scramble to make room
for all 4-year-olds who could enroll in the free pre-K classes, officials
said Thursday.
The voter-approved program is scheduled to debut at the start of the
2005-06 school year. The state doesn't yet know, however, whether there
are enough private preschool operators to handle the more than 150,000
youngsters who could sign up.
The pre-K law signed by Gov. Jeb Bush in January excluded most
public-school districts, envisioning a pre-K program largely contracted
out to private schools, day-care businesses, family-run day-cares and
religious groups.
Lawmakers thought districts needed to concentrate on state goals for
reducing class sizes and couldn't do that while adding preschoolers to
their school rolls.
Now, key leaders in Tallahassee are "working feverishly" to change the
rules so local public schools could offer pre-K, said Susan Pareigis,
director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation, which oversees pre-K.
"We are ever hopeful we will be able to include our school districts,"
Pareigis said at a meeting of officials working to launch the new program.
Rep. Dudley Goodlette, R-Naples, one of the sponsors of the pre-K bill the
Florida Legislature passed in December, agreed.
"I would hope that an interpretation would be forthcoming that would
enable school districts to participate," he said this week.
Several benefits
Such a change would increase the potential number of pre-K slots
statewide, reduce dependence on a controversial summer pre-K program --
the "safety net" if not enough providers offered classes during the school
year -- and likely please parents, many of whom assumed their local
schools would offer pre-K, officials said.
"We really need the school system to participate," said Julia Ware,
executive director of the Flagler and Volusia Counties School Readiness
Coalition, one of about 30 local committees in charge of running pre-K
statewide. "There's a lot more parents responding than there are providers
at this point."
If the rule changes, school districts that met this year's goals for
class-size reduction could offer pre-K. All but nine of Florida's 67
school districts could take part, including every district in Central
Florida, said Shan Goff, director of the Office of Early Learning at the
Florida Department of Education.
"We're hopeful," said Peggy Rivers, senior director for curriculum
services for Orange County public schools.
Without the public schools, some fear a shortage of pre-K classes
throughout the state. That's because the state is recruiting pre-K
operators while key questions remain unanswered, including how much the
state will pay for each child in class.
'We could be short slots'
"Providers find it very difficult to make a commitment at this point in
time because there is so much unknown," said Karen Willis, executive
director of the Early Learning Coalition of Seminole County. "I am
concerned that we could be short slots."
Kim Vukelja, owner and director of the Imagination Station Montessori
Pre-School in Daytona Beach, said she wasn't sure she will participate
because of the uncertainty. She wondered whether Volusia County will have
enough pre-K slots to meet demand.
Many child-care centers "probably don't have the quality that the current
program really wants," she said. "I don't know what they're going to do."
The Florida Catholic Conference, which already operates more than 180
pre-K programs throughout the state, isn't sure how many of its schools
will join, in part because its pre-K classes are usually larger than the
state will allow.
State officials, however, say that until final guidelines for pre-K are
approved, they won't know whether they have enough qualified operators.
Pareigis said the guidelines are expected next month, and applicants
should be approved in May.
The state is pleased with the number of interested people and groups who
have filled out "pre-applications" to offer pre-K so far. More than 1,950
have signed up, and parents have registered more than 18,824 children.
But Pareigis said those early applications are just "testing the water,"
and no one knows whether those applicants will qualify to participate or,
if they do, how many children they could serve.
Danny Morris, president of the Florida Association of Child Care
Management, which represents day-care businesses, said he thinks there
won't be a shortage of providers, except perhaps in Florida's rural
counties.
Morris owns three child-care centers in the Tampa Bay area and plans to
join the program "depending on what the state finally does with the
financial end of this."
The governor has proposed spending $2,500 per child for pre-K, a figure
widely criticized as too low. The Legislature has final say, but it won't
finalize the state budget until late spring.
About $3,000 per child would make more financial sense and ensure plenty
of participation, said Penny Westberry, executive director of the Early
Learning Coalition of Broward County.
"If the dollar amount is reasonable, and the School Board can participate,
I think we will be in fairly good shape," Westberry said.
The summer program, which school districts must offer, is to start in
2006. It was designed as an option for any child who can't find a spot in
a school-year program.
But the pre-K law requires 300 hours of instruction in the summer session.
Crunching that time into what might be just 36 school days could require
more than seven hours of lessons a day -- inappropriate for 4-year-olds,
many educators say -- or holding classes on Saturday, said Goff of DOE.
Both options drew groans from the crowd in Tampa.
"We're going to have to be really, really outside the box," Goff said.
