Free preschool for all could become reality

By: PAUL EAKINS - Staff Writer | Saturday, November 12, 2005 11:53 PM PST ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- By August, many Escondido and Valley Center families may be taking their 4-year-olds to free preschool classes, courtesy of a countywide program to be considered next month.

On Dec. 5, two county entities will decide whether to approve a plan for the five-year program, called Preschool for All, that eventually would provide free preschool to every family in the county.

And the Escondido and Valley Center communities would be two of the first, officials say.

Currently, area families have only a couple of preschool options. In Escondido, State Preschool offers free classes to about 400 children from low-income families. But getting in isn't easy. The state-funded program, which operates at six Escondido elementary schools, has a waiting list of about 120 students, the director of the program says.

Those who don't qualify have to pay what can amount to hundreds of dollars per month for private preschool. Many families find themselves stuck in the middle, earning too much money to qualify for State Preschool, but not enough to be able to afford the private option.

Some parents have turned to the Escondido Union School District's state-funded First 5 Escondido, where they can take their children to teach and play with them, as well as to get services and take parenting classes.

State Preschool teacher Thelma Raymer said parents are desperate to get their children into preschool.

"The parents sacrifice a lot," she said. "They walk sometimes blocks and blocks because they want their children in preschool so bad."

Preschool for All
If the county's Technical Professional Advisory Committee and the First 5 Commission of San Diego approve a plan Dec. 5 to create the Preschool for All program, it will be a great step for education, said Lois Pastore, senior director of early education programs and services for the county.

"Research has demonstrated that those children (who attend preschool) do better in school," Pastore said.

Preschool for All would first be implemented in six communities identified as at-risk because of their schools' low Academic Performance Index scores, which are used by the state to measure student achievement, Pastore said.

These six communities would be Escondido, Valley Center, Lemon Grove, South Bay Union, San Isidro and National City, she said. The program would be phased in, first providing free preschool to low-income families, then to all families in these communities.

The program would be expanded throughout the county in the next five years and paid for by $30 million from the First 5 Commission of San Diego.

The First 5 program was created in 1998 after voters approved a 50-cent tax increase on a pack of cigarettes and other tobacco products to pay for programs for children up to age 5.

Should the plan be approved, the county's First 5 Commission would contract with private preschools in each community to provide three hours of classes Monday through Friday to all 4-year-olds.

While many preschools are in churches, Pastore said they, too, could be used by the program despite it being state-funded. She said the guidelines to be used in these situations have yet to be determined.

Part of the plan also is to raise preschool teacher qualifications, and salaries, in the county.

Each community has different needs, she said, and many factors will need to be determined should Preschool for All be put in place, such as putting the preschools close to those who need them.

"We have a great deal of planning to do now in each of the communities," Pastore said.

The local branch
The First 5 program already has done much for area families, said Jan Zelasko, coordinator of First 5 Escondido and the city's State Preschool.

First 5 Escondido, which started two years ago and is funded by a four-year, $3 million grant, doesn't provide regular preschool classes. Rather, it gives families the resources they need to teach their children, Zelasko said.

The program, at 442 S. Escondido Blvd., provides free parent classes on child development and discipline, a classroom where parents can play with and teach their children, and offers health care and social service referrals and services.

Elisa Rios was at the school last week with her 2-year-old son, Christopher, and her 2-month-old daughter, Odalys.

Rios said she knows the benefits of the program because she had taken her other son, 5-year-old Adrian, to the site last year.

"They have everything here. They have all the tools to get him ready," Rios said.

She had no other choice, she said, because her husband, Rigoberto, who earns about $35,000 a year working in construction, earns too much to qualify for State Preschool. But she can't afford a private preschool, either.

Maria Wallace takes her 4-year-old daughter, Aisha, to the First 5 program as well, but she said she would like to be able to enroll Aisha in a preschool where she would be in a classroom setting.

If her daughter were to attend preschool, Wallace would be free to earn some money for her family, she said.

"Here, the parents have to be here. I would really like to work part time, but I can't because I don't have that choice. Otherwise, I would be working just to pay her education," Wallace said.

Education before kindergarten
Zelasko said a prekindergarten education has a great impact on how well children do in kindergarten and beyond.

"There are children who have absolutely nothing, no experience with books. And they walk in the kindergarten and there's other students who have (had preschool), and they truly have a head start," Zelasko said.

Beyond its educational value, preschool has a fiscal value for communities as well, a recent study said. The study, released in March by the Rand Corp., said free preschool for all California children would generate $2.62 in benefits for every public dollar spent.

The study by the Santa Monica-based think tank estimated the average annual costs of universal preschool in California would be $1.7 billion. That money, according to the study, would be offset in the long term by a reduction in the high school dropout rates, less juvenile crime and a more productive work force.

Connie Blackburn, a kindergarten teacher at Central School, said that when the school prescreens students before entering kindergarten, it is easy to see how much they know ---- or don't.

"It's so obvious, the children that have been at preschool and the children who have not been in school," Blackburn said.

She said that upon entering kindergarten, children should be able to write their name, count to 10, recognize numbers one to five, know the names of basic shapes and recognize a few letters. And hopefully, the students already know how to behave in school and what is expected of them, Blackburn said.

Students who start kindergarten without this preparation can find that their brains overworked, she said.

"If you're just for the first time learning shapes, just for the first time learning (to write) your name, just for the first time learning colors, your brain power is all used up," Blackburn said.

State Preschool
Parents say State Preschool is a great place for children to get this preparation.

After dropping off her 4-year-old daughter, Alyssa, at the preschool Wednesday, Veronica Covarrubias, a mother of three, said the program had had a great influence on her older daughter, Jasmine.

Jasmine, 5, is now a kindergartner at Miller School and is doing well both educationally and socially, her mother said.

"She's interacting with the other kids beautifully because she learned so much here at preschool. It made the transition easier," Covarrubias said.

The State Preschool has classes at Central, Conway, Felicita, Lincoln and Pioneer elementary schools in Escondido, and the Nicolaysen Center. The program has two three-hour sessions Monday through Friday.

Students are admitted based on their family's income, and just under $40,000 is the highest a family of four could earn for the children to attend the preschool, Zelasko said.

Contact staff writer Paul Eakins at (760) 740-5420 or peakins@nctimes.com.