kids playing basketball

Children play basketball during recess at a state preschool program in Hughson, California. Photo: Lillian Mongeau/EdSource Today

President Barack Obama has yet to issue whatsoever cost estimates for his proposal to expand admission to preschool for 4-twelvemonth-olds, merely there is 1 certainty should Congress approve the program: It will exist expensive.

California currently serves nigh one in 5 of the country'southward depression-income 4-year-olds in state-funded preschools at a cost of $3,820 per student, according to the California Department of Education. That covers a half day of preschool for 180 days, the length of a regular school twelvemonth. Some preschool programs offer full-day services and the state spends additional funds to support those programs. The total spent on state-supported preschools in California in 2011-12 was $368 million, according to the Legislative Analyst'southward Function.

If California were to do what President Obama called for again yesterday in a spoken communication in Decatur, IL – "to make high quality preschool available to every child" – the cost of serving the state's approximately half million iv-year-olds could amount to $2 billion or more.

For now, the Obama administration is declining to say how much coin the federal government might contribute, where the coin might come from or how states might qualify to receive that coin.

White House Domestic Policy Quango director Cecilia Muñoz said yesterday in a briefing for reporters that more than details would be provided every bit to how the president intends to pay for the plan when he releases his budget onetime in the adjacent few weeks.

"We take thought this through," Muñoz told reporters. "This is not going to add a nickel to the deficit."

The program would provide states with federal funds in a "cost-sharing" organization, Muñoz said. Those funds would be targeted at children from families with incomes of up to twice the federal poverty level, or $47,100 annually for a family of four. Muñoz said the goal is for states to apply this federal money for depression-income students to work toward a goal of free public preschool for all.

Greg Hudson, who oversees preschool and child-care programs for the country Department of Education, said California does not currently serve all of the children who would qualify for federal support under Obama's proposal. He said he had no approximate of what it would cost to serve those boosted children.

What is known, Hudson said, is that in that location are waiting lists for public preschool slots in every county in California. What's more, cuts resulting from the state'due south upkeep crisis have forced preschool programs to reduce enrollments. State-supported preschools lost $61 million in state funding betwixt 2009 and 2012.

In his Country of the Union address, President Obama cited Oklahoma as a model state for its free public preschool program open up to children of all income levels. Oklahoma enrolled 74 pct of its four-year-olds in preschool in 2011, according to the National Constitute for Early on Education Research. That same year, only nineteen percent of California'south 4-year-old population – near 100,000 children – were enrolled in country-funded programs.

To attain Oklahoma's level could cost well over $1 billion in land and federal dollars in California, an gauge based on the the number of 4-year-olds in the state and the electric current preschool per-pupil spending. A 2006 universal preschool initiative on the California ballot in 2006 – soundly rejected past voters – was intended to eventually raise $ii.6 billion annually to cover the costs of the programme.

A pie chart shows the types of early childhood care 3- and 4-year-olds in California were receiving in 2007, the latest year for which this data is available. SOURCES: RAND California Preschool Study household survey and provider survey data.


A pie chart shows the types of early on childhood intendance iii- and 4-year-olds in California were receiving in 2007, the latest year for which this data is bachelor.
SOURCES: RAND California Preschool Written report household survey and provider survey data.

Well-nigh i third of California children currently attend individual preschools, and their parents pay tuition costs without aid from the authorities. It'due south impossible to predict how many of those families would sign up for expanded public programs should they become available.

No matter how the last numbers pencil out, preschool advocates say there would be no better investment.

"It's coin well spent," said Kris Perry, executive manager of the Start 5 Years Fund, a national advocacy system.

Perry, a old director of the First 5 California committee, said she believed at that place was plenty bipartisan back up for early learning for the proposal to stand a hazard of making it through a divided Congress focused on the federal deficit.

"Interestingly, in that location were nine governors who mentioned early learning in their State of the Country speeches this month and half of them were Republicans," Perry said. "Both parties come across real benefits, tangible benefits in their states."

It was no blow that both of us – Oklahoma and Georgia – President Obama cited in his Country of the Union address on Tuesday have Republican governors and Republican-controlled legislatures.

Yet, Gov. Jerry Brown has been more often than not silent on the issue. He did non mention early learning in his State of the Land address last month, much to the disappointment of preschool advocates. His proposed 2013-14 budget does not include additional funding for child care or preschool programs.

Though the early learning community in California is nonetheless holding its breath for more details on the president's proposal – and the probable lengthy legislative battles to follow – many are only thrilled it'due south existence discussed at a national level.

Referring to the unexpected encompass of early education by the president, the California Department of Instruction's Hudson said, "I'm optimistic and overjoyed."

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