Preschool

One of the ongoing debates in Alaska’s legislature is whether our state government should be responsible for the education of its 4-year olds.  Until now, Alaska has toyed with this responsibility by issuing grants to both the home and a few school districts, but it has not had the will to fully open this door.  However, President Obama’s recent proposal to expand preschool opportunities may provide the needed push to make the option of preschool a reality for most of Alaska’s 4-year olds.  The President is proposing a cost-sharing partnership with states to offer a high-quality public preschool to all 4-year-olds from families at or below 200 percent of the poverty level. While this will not touch all of Alaska’s 4 year olds, it will greatly expand the opportunities offered today.

For the past several years KPBSD has been using our Title I monies to offer preschool to about a third of our 4-year olds.  We have preliminary data to show that those students who attend our preschools have more success in kindergarten than those who do not.  Should the President’s proposal come to pass, we will work hard to ensure that the funds are tightly packaged so that they can only be distributed to high quality programs that include teachers with an endorsement in early childhood education.  The research on preschool is clear.  Programs that are run by well trained teachers, small classes and rigorous standards for early learning are making a difference.  We are already doing this and are ready to expand our efforts.

The upcoming debate over whether this investment in our country’s youngsters is worthwhile will likely be divisive and predictable.  Let’s push Alaska’s delegation to see the horizon and recognize that leaving school preparation of our 4-year olds to fate is a mistake.