Lancaster Online: Study: Thousands of Lancaster County children eligible for free preschool aren’t getting it
December 15, 2016 by Heather Stauffer
Thousands of Lancaster County children eligible for publicly-funded preschool are not enrolled in any programs because of insufficient state funding and dearth of quality pre-K programs, a new study says.
The statewide study by the nonprofit Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children found that nearly 113,000 three- and four-year-olds across the state are eligible for publicly-funded preschool education but are missing out.
Quality pre-K education, the study said, can reduce grade repetition, special education placements, and dropout rates. Calling for greater state funding for preschool, researchers said that every $1 invested saves about $17 in the long run.
“The need is great everywhere,” said Joan Benso, CEO of the Harrisburg-based advocacy organization.
The partnership is asking Pennsylvania legislators for an additional $85 million for preschools in next year’s budget, rising to $340 million by 2020.
By contrast, this year’s budget raised preschool funding by $30 million.
In Columbia Borough School District, only 56 percent of preschoolers who qualified for high-quality publicly funded preschool received it, the report said.
In School District of Lancaster, it was only 45 percent.
In four districts — Donegal, Hempfield, Manheim Township and Ephrata — it was less than 40 percent.
And in the rest of the county’s 16 districts, it was less than 20 percent, with Elanco, where only 2 percent of eligible children received preschool education.
Local superintendents said they have been making efforts to reach children who can’t get into preschools, ranging from free videos containing educational tips to special workshops.
Brian Bliss, superintendent of Solanco School District, said it goes as far as mailing all families of three-year-olds a list of all preschool and daycare programs in the area each year.
“We have long desired to increase the number of students who access quality preschools in our area,” he said.
However, he noted the situation may be rosier than the report indicates, because the partnership counted only preschools that have gone through the state’s assessment process.
“We have a number of preschools that are excellent, but they have not gone through the steps required for the ‘high quality’ designation,” he said.
Bob Hollister, who’s serving as superintendent for both Columbia and Elanco districts this year, said this year Elanco is introducing six-week pre-K sessions at each of its elementary schools.
“It’s difficult to argue against pre-K preparation,” he said.
Andrea Heberlein is lead director of community impact for United Way of Lancaster County, which has made school readiness one of its four big goals for this decade.
“It is critical for the well-being of our children, and the entire community, to rally behind the efforts to provide quality pre-K education and ensure that by 2025 all children in Lancaster County will enter kindergarten ready to learn,” she said.
Read the article here.
York Daily Record: Most needy kids in York County aren’t getting pre-k
December 15, 2016 by Angie Mason
When children arrive for kindergarten, they come with a wide range of abilities. Some of them might know the alphabet, nearly able to read. Others might recognize only a few letters.
“It makes it challenging,” said South Western School District Supt. Barbara Rupp. “We work hard to lessen that gap.”
South Western has been meeting with area preschools for a few years to address that need, Rupp said. District educators explain what’s expected of kindergarten students and share training to help the providers better prepare kids.
South Western also changed its kindergarten registration process to help identify early those children who might need more help. The district makes home visits over the summer and takes families books. The district and its foundation also pay for a program that will deliver daily early-childhood activities to a parent’s phone or email.
A state advocacy group says there’s another way to help get those kids started right: Put more state money toward publicly funded, high quality pre-kindergarten programs.
Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children released a report this week looking at how many 3- and 4-year-old children who were eligible for such programs were actually enrolled in them. Statewide, the report showed 64 percent of eligible children — those who are low-income or have other special needs — did not have access to programs, and there are gaps everywhere — in rural, suburban and urban areas.
In eight school districts in York County, less than 10 percent of the 3- and 4-year olds who are eligible are actually enrolled in a program. In the South Western and Spring Grove districts, the report showed none of the eligible children were being served.
The report says high quality programs include Pre-K Counts, Head Start, school district programs and child care centers that have earned the higher spots on the Keystone Stars quality ranking system. An online map with the report shows that in many areas of York County there are few or no such programs available.
Good Shepherd Child Care in Glen Rock, which has the highest Keystone Stars rating of 4, is the only program in the Southern York County School District boundaries, according to the report. In order to earn the higher Stars rating, a certain percentage of students must be funded by public subsidies, and there are additional requirements to meet, like more education for staff.
It’s a lot more work, said director Pamela Prowell.
“But child outcomes, you can see the difference,” she said. “You’ve got kids that come to you from strong, healthy, functioning families. Then you’ve got kids that come from families that aren’t functioning, aren’t strong. That makes our jobs that much more important so when they get to public school, they’re ready.”
Shirl Quinan, who owns the Kidsville Junction centers in Stewartstown and Fawn Grove, said she thinks there are also parents who don’t want to apply for child care funding because they think it’s a handout. Her centers have 3-star ratings, and it can be costly and difficult to maintain that. At least 10 percent of the centers’ children must be funded by subsidies.
“I feel, in the bottom of my heart, it’s the right thing to do,” she said.
The York City School District has the most children eligible for free programs, nearly twice as many as Red Lion, which has the next largest population. But more children in the city, 69 percent, are being reached than in any other district.
The school district offers free pre-k in all of its buildings, some funded through Pre-K Counts and some paid for out of the district’s budget. The district has been working to expand the programs in recent years, aiming to one day reach all city children.
Other organizations in the city offer programs, too, like the YWCA York, which has Pre-K Counts and a 4-Star rated child care program. Ruby Martin, the YWCA’s chief program officer, cautioned that there is still a huge need in the city, even though things might look good on paper.
At the YWCA alone, “we have 50 kids on a waiting list for pre-k,” Martin said. “It’s a pretty significant need if we want to get kids the start that they need.”
What’s the solution?
Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children says there’s a need for more state investment in early childhood programs, specifically: $85 million more in 2017-18, and $340 million more by 2020-21 to serve all eligible children.
Read the full article here.
York Dispatch: New tool maps local pre-K data
December 14, 2016 by Alyssa Pressler
A report and a new online mapping tool from Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children highlights the publicly funded pre-K education opportunities, and lack thereof, in local areas.
The report and mapping tool, both titled “A Path Forward,” were released Wednesday to the public. The report, which can be found on the organization’s website, says 112,900 eligible preschool-age children statewide are not served by publicly funded pre-K opportunities.
This data states 68.4 percent of students in rural school districts have an unmet pre-K need, 51.2 percent of students in urban school districts have an unmet need and 74.2 percent of students in suburban school districts have an unmet need.
According to the report, all data was provided by the PA Kids Count Data Center, which is a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation that tracks a number of data sets to follow the “well-being” of children in the United States, according to its website.
With the report came the release of an online mapping tool for the state in which users are able to see specific data on pre-K in their school district. Information they can view includes the number of children ages 3 to 4, eligible children for publicly funded pre-K, the percentage of students enrolled in publicly funded pre-K, the percent of students unserved, the number of high-quality pre-K locations and the number of additional pre-K classes that would be needed to serve the entire eligible population.
Past reporting by The York Dispatch has revealed that 84 percent of York County 3- and 4-year-old children do not have access to high-quality pre-K. Families in need are hit the hardest when it comes to access: nearly 60 percent of children without access to high-quality pre-K education are in families with incomes below 300 percent of the poverty line.
York City School District has the lowest population of children not served by publicly funded pre-K, because pre-K classrooms are in each K-8 building in the district. Each of the seven K-8 buildings has at least one pre-K classroom, and many offer several. The district has stated its goal is to have a pre-K spot available in its program for every 4-year-old in the city.
Spring Grove Area School District and South Western School District have the highest rate of children not being served by publicly funded pre-K programs, both at 100 percent, because of the lack of publicly funded pre-K programs in those districts either through the public school or through organizations such as Head Start of York County.
Below, in descending order, are the rates of students not served by high-quality, publicly funded pre-K education in each of York County’s school districts.
South Western School District: 100 percent
Spring Grove Area School District: 100 percent
Red Lion Area School District: 97.2 percent
Dover Area School District: 96.1 percent
Dallastown Area School District: 95.1 percent
West Shore School District: 94 percent
Eastern York School District: 91.8 percent
Southern York County School District: 91.5 percent
Northern York County School District: 90.9 percent
West York Area School District: 89.1 percent
Central York School District: 85.4 percent
Northeastern York School District: 70.6 percent
Hanover Public School District: 70.1 percent
South Eastern School District: 68 percent
York Suburban School District: 67.4 percent
York City School District: 30.9 percent
Read the article here.
Tribune Democrat: Pre-k programs lagging in Pennsylvania
December 14, 2016 by John Finnerty
HARRISBURG — Most children eligible for public pre-kindergarten are shut out for lack of space, according to a report released Wednesday.
The situation is worse in rural and suburban schools, the Pennsylvania Partnership for Children found. Almost 3 in 4 children in suburban districts who are eligible for the programs don’t have access. In rural schools, more than 2 in 3 children are shut out.
“This is not a city problem, this is a Pennsylvania problem,” said state Rep. Mark Longietti, D-Mercer County. More than half of the children in his district who are eligible aren’t enrolled.
The programs are offered by public schools, private nursery schools, highly-rated child care centers or Head Start. The group wants the state to recruit more operators to launch programs and cover their costs.
Of 300,000 preschool-age children in the state, about 177,000 are eligible for publicly funded pre-kindergarten. The group says the state has pre-K programs in place for almost 64,000 children, but nearly 113,000 are shut out.
Eligibility for the progams is based on family income, lack of English proficiency or disability.
Rural areas may have fewer private operators able to run pre-kindergarten programs, said Joan Benso, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.
School districts in those areas likely struggle to operate regular K-12 classes, so administrators feel they’re in no position to expand to preschool.
Federally funded programs, such as Head Start, are more anchored to urban areas, Benso noted.
Researchers found that 32 of Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts have at least 80 percent of eligible preschoolers enrolled in pre-K programs.
Benso’s group is not proposing universal pre-K. Instead, it wants the state to pay to expand access to more children already eligible.
Eventually, if those needs are met, it would like to see programs opened to more families.
Benso’s group wants the state to boost pre-K spending by $85 million in the coming year, with a goal of increasing spending by $340 million by 2020-21.
That would be enough money to enroll all eligible children, she said.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget director, Randy Albright, noted the state is projected to have a $600 million deficit in the next budget year.
However, Wolf remains committed to boosting spending on schools and early childhood programs, he added, despite the headwinds.
Republicans who control the Legislature may be less enthusiastic.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana County, said before the state spends more on schools, it ought to ensure that money now stuck in the state Department of Education is trickling out to districts.
The state needs to find $1.7 billion just to cover existing expenses – as well as mandated increases – in the coming year, said Rep. Brad Roae, R-Crawford County.
“Everyone deserves a good education but the state already spends over 42 percent of the general fund budget on education items such as Pre-K, subsidized day care, K-12 education, colleges and student grants,” he said.
Researchers said about 2 in 3 children eligible for pre-K programs in Roae’s district aren’t enrolled.
There are 18 pre-kindergarten classrooms in his legislative district. Nearly three-dozen more must be added to meet all the demand, researchers estimated.
Longietti said investment in pre-kindergarten is needed to ensure new students can compete with their peers from areas where governments are spending more, even within the region.
Ontario, for example, launched a universal pre-kindergarten program in 2010. Two years ago, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio rolled out universal pre-K in the nation’s largest city.
Research supports those who say the investment pays off in the long-run, said former state Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak.
Studies estimate $7 to $17 in long-term savings for every $1 spent on early childhood education, he said.
Savings come from reduced costs for services such as remedial education, social welfare programs and incarceration.
“It’s probably the most important investment we can make,” he said.
Benso said there’s no question the call for more spending on early childhood education comes as the state grapples with a difficult budget.
“The state is in a grave situation,” she said. “But budgets are about making decisions. And these children are not going to be able to be 3 or 4 again when the state’s budget is better.”
Read the article here.
Times-Leader: Column: Retired Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Perugino: Our nation’s military preparedness linked to our nation’s preschools
November 17, 2016
On Veterans Day, America paused to thank the men and women who have dedicated their lives to this nation and its freedom.
Of course, today’s military is vastly different from the armed forces of yesterday. The soldier who carried a musket or the flier who piloted a biplane would never recognize the precision-guided munitions or the unmanned aircraft of today.
While the values our veterans and current military personnel have cherished and protected never wavered, the military’s tools have grown increasingly sophisticated. Devotion to duty remains an expectation, but so are the ability to communicate, solve problems, think critically, and in many posts, perform technologically sophisticated tasks.
Unfortunately, the pool of qualified men and women capable of military service today – of becoming the veterans whose service we honor tomorrow – is diminishing. In Pennsylvania, 72 percent of youths ages 17 to 24 are ineligible for military service due to problems with obesity, education, drug abuse or crime, according to the Citizen-Readiness Index.
The index, produced by the Council for a Strong America, revealed two other sobering findings about preparedness. In Pennsylvania, 13 percent of youths (ages 16 to 24) are unemployed and not in school, and 13 youths out of 100 (ages 17 to 24) have an arrest record. The findings show that too many young adults aren’t ready to contribute to their country, the economy or their communities. They are disqualified from our military and ill-prepared to work in our businesses.
Fortunately, a known solution to this dilemma is at hand. Just as we plant seedlings and watch them grow into trees, we can plant the seeds of productive lifetimes in our youngest children. A strong body of research has proven that high-quality prekindergarten prepares children to succeed in school and beyond.
Children who enter school from quality early learning programs are better prepared for school, show lasting academic gains, and are less likely to engage in crime or substance abuse. In turn, that means they require less money in the form of taxpayer dollars be spent on things such as prisons and welfare, and more important, they grow into productive members of our communities.
With results like these, it’s no coincidence that the U.S. military has invested strategically in early learning. Children of active-duty families living on military bases worldwide can attend prekindergarten programs that meet the highest standards for promoting learning. This investment is part of the U.S. Department of Defense’s $1.3 billion yearly commitment to children and youth.
Pennsylvania also has made impressive strides in delivering high-quality early learning to the children most likely to benefit, but need remains. In Luzerne County, more than 150 new state-funded pre-k slots were established this year. Yet 72 percent of eligible young children still do not have access to high-quality, public-funded prekindergarten. Pennsylvania should follow the military’s lead and continue to prioritize early education.
When we thank our veterans on Veterans Day, let’s not stop there. Let’s ensure that the hard work and sacrifice of previous generations are upheld and carried forward by our young residents.
Joseph F. Perugino, a Kingston resident, is a retired major general who previously commanded the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 28th Infantry Division. He serves on the executive leadership council of Mission:Readiness – Military Leaders for Kids.
Read the column here.
