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Setting the record straight
The families in the state of California were promised a high-quality, free, and inclusive pre-kindergarten program for all 4-year-olds. Historically, all pre-kindergarten programs were fee-based with some families qualifying for state subsidy.
The programs, referred to as “private” are licensed by the state of California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS). These programs follow strict rules and regulations designed to ensure qualified teachers and administrators, and the health and safety of our young learners. High-quality programs follow the California State Preschool Learning Foundations that are aligned with the K-8 system to ensure academic preparation in a play-based and developmentally appropriate way.
Unfortunately, the state’s response to offering a high-quality, free and inclusive pre-kindergarten program for all 4-year-olds, was to add another year of education to public schools. An education system that is already overburdened and under-resourced. In these new transitional kindergarten classrooms are credentialed teachers whose skills and education are desperately needed in the K-8 system, not to teach pre-kindergarten.
Why throw the baby out with the bathwater? I believe the logical step would have been to strengthen and fund the already successful CalHHS licensed Pre-K programs. In doing so, a true mixed-delivery system would have been created. Instead, the licensed pre-kindergarten system is being obliterated and quality programs are shutting their doors as the 4-year-olds head into a public school system not designed for them.
Respectfully,
Christine Shreve, director of Holy Cross Preschool in Belmont