The Almanac interviewed several public school teachers and principals to get their views on Proposition 82. While all agreed that preschool is highly beneficial, some question the specific program that the ballot measure would put into place.
Views from the classroom
The idea of universal preschool has strong support among the three elementary school teachers interviewed for this story. It makes their jobs much easier, they said, because it familiarizes kids with school routines.“It basically helps teachers with management because kids have an understanding of how to behave in a civilized setting and know what the purpose of school is,” said Richard Tashman, a first-grade teacher at Belle Haven Elementary School in Menlo Park who is in his first year of teaching.
Mr. Tashman said most of his students have not been to preschool. As a result, he said, they can have problems with self-discipline, respect for themselves and others, and the ability to cooperate. Kids without preschool “are not going to learn as well as everybody else, and they’ll fall behind,” he said.
The question may be an abstract one for a kindergarten teacher in the Menlo Park City School District who preferred anonymity because her comments, she said, were not representative of all teachers. Virtually all of her students have attended preschool, as has always been the case in her career so far. She would not give an opinion on Proposition 82.
“If I taught in a school in a different location, I would imagine I would experience different needs in a kindergarten classroom,” she said, noting that preschool is “incredibly valuable” because it catches kids in a period of important growth.
Another Menlo Park kindergarten teacher chose anonymity to avoid backlash for voicing an opinion that might be unpopular in a community of many families who would be taxed if 82 passes.
She said she once taught in a poorer school district. Kids who have preschool, she said, “are able to function on their own and make decisions and take responsibility for their own actions.”
This teacher said she would vote for Proposition 82, but is of two minds on it. On the one hand, universal preschool would create a smarter work force and every $2 spent would save $4 in law enforcement costs, she said.
At the same time, she said, the proposition as written is “not as well-defined as we might like” on a topic that “unfortunately, needs a lot more research.” Better that it address all high-risk children first, for example, and perhaps charge tuition based on ability to pay, she said.
All three teachers agreed that college-level certification for preschool teachers — a provision of Proposition 82 — may be a bit much.
That provision echoes the uniformity of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, said one kindergarten teacher. “I think the state or the government could find out if a teacher is highly qualified in other ways than the few avenues that they’ve laid out for people.”
Mr. Tashman believes that a preschool teacher needs leadership skills and a background in working with children — abilities often found in camp counselors. “In my opinion, the skills you learn in college are not relevant to the skills you need to be a teacher in preschool,” he said.
Views from principals
Woodside School District is one of the few elementary school districts in the area that already offers an on-campus preschool on a fee-for-service basis. It’s already fully subscribed next year.“We run a successful, wonderful, popular program” for 65 preschoolers, said Dan Vinson, the district’s superintendent/principal. He said 99 percent of all the preschoolers in the district program go on to kindergarten at Woodside School.
But Mr. Vinson said he’s not sure what Proposition 82 would do to the program if it passes. Would the district be required to offer another program? Where would it be housed? What would be the curriculum focus?
Woodside’s preschool program offers children from 2 years, 9 months to age 5 a wealth of experiences and time for discovery, he said. Two credentialed teachers work full-time with three instructional assistants.
Children who live in the Woodside school district have first priority for admission to the preschool. Next priority is to those who live in the Woodside community, and then it’s open to other preschoolers.
Nancy Hendry, principal of the K-2 Laurel School in the Menlo Park City School District and an early childhood education specialist, supports preschool for all kids.
“In a perfect world, it would be a great experience for all, providing it didn’t take funding away from the K-12 mandated programs,” she said. “I don’t know in the long run if preschool is the determining factor in a child’s success in school, although it absolutely gives them an advantage in kindergarten.”
Ms. Hendry is concerned about whether the preschool curriculum to be developed if Proposition 82 passes would be the best for all kids. With the state-mandated curriculum and accountability standards, kindergarten now seems to be more like first grade than preschool, she said.
She believes young children should be given opportunities to learn social skills, understand being part of a group environment, and build and understand concepts that form a solid base for future learning.
About 95 percent of the kindergartners at Laurel School had attended preschool.
Principal Jerry Traynor of the K-3 Las Lomitas School said that, in theory, he would always support the concept of early childhood education and the provision of programs for preschoolers.
“Anything we can do for young families and children, I’m for it,” he said. “However, I think there are flaws in the Preschool For All program, proposed in the Proposition 82 initiative.”
Mr. Traynor said he thinks the preschool program would cost more than projected. “Funding for our K-12 public schools is fragile,” he said. “Down the line it could worsen” if the preschool program is put in place.
California already provides preschool programs, designed primarily for children from low-income families, Mr. Traynor said, adding that those programs cost $360 million annually.
A good 90 percent of the kindergartners at Las Lomitas School in Atherton have gone to preschool.
Reporting by Marjorie Mader and David Boyce
