“The evidence is irrefutable. High-quality preschool does wonders,” said Seattle City Council President and Proposition 1B proponent Tim Burgess.
Now voters will weigh in on whether city hall should expand its mission and fund a pilot program for up to 2,000 of Seattle’s 13,000 three-and-four-year-old children.
Prop. 1B is a four-year, $58-million measure that will be paid for with new property taxes. Prop. 1B’s programs would fund “high quality” preschool classrooms to serve 280 pupils in 2015 and ramp up to 2,000 students by 2018.
Burgess said, “Forty years of research has shown that kids coming out of quality preschools are better prepared, have lower incidents of teen pregnancy, higher graduation rates from high school, higher college entrance and graduation, better health and less involvement with criminal justice.”
Yet, The Seattle Times has reported that some education researchers have found the academic boost from high- quality preschools will fade out by grades 3 or 4.
“Fade out occurs,” Burgess admitted. “Other kids catch up but the life gains — higher earning power, better health, less involvement with criminal justice — remain. The investment really does pay off.”
Prop. 1B opponent Heather Weiner said the measure doesn’t serve enough pre-kindergarten children. “Eighty-five percent of brain development occurs by age 3,” she said. “My [union leadership] said an expanded preschool program is fine, but what about the other 94 percent [of Seattle children under age 5]?”
Burgess said the new program is deliberately starting small to make sure that it produces excellent results. “Focus on quality not quantity,” he said.
Burgess’ ultimate goal is free, universal, high-quality preschool for all Seattle children. After the four-year pilot project, he said, the city would welcome other government partners to expand enrollment until all can be served. “By then either the state or the federal government will have stepped up,” he said.
Preschools that qualify for funding under Prop. 1B must meet strict standards. The preschools would be run by private businesses, nonprofits or the Seattle Public Schools. Each classroom must have no more than 20 students and have two teachers. The lead teacher must have a bachelor’s degree and the assistant teacher must have an associate degree — both in Early Childhood Education or its equivalent.
Tuition will be free for families of four earning up to $71,000 a year (300 percent of the federal poverty level) and subsidized for families of four earning as much as $200,000.
The preschools must use a curriculum approved by city government education specialists, and their schedules must be six hours a day, five days a week and 180 days a year.
Weiner said the schedule won’t help working parents. “It’s only six hours a day for nine months. The daycare center I was at today is open from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.”
“Prop. 1B is narrowly crafted,” said Burgess. “It is prudent.” He emphasized that the measure is not about child care from birth to age 5 or working parents’ difficult schedules. “1B is about expanding the network of high-quality preschool providers.”
Weiner said some of Prop. 1B’s campaign donors have ulterior motives for wanting to expand private preschools. “There are lots of charter school advocates behind it,” she said.
In a press release she listed charter school advocates and Prop. 1B donors that included Matt Larson (former Microsoft executive), Connie Ballmer (wife of former Microsoft executive), Miguel Bezos (father of Amazon founder) and John Stanton (former wireless executive). They’ve given between $12,500 and $100,000 apiece to Prop. 1B, according to the release.
“It’s a red herring,” said Burgess. “All preschool education is already privatized and run through nonprofits and for-profits.” Burgess said there is no litmus test for donors and endorsers. “The King County Labor Council endorsed 1B — that’s tens of thousands of union members. This is the progressive plan to help our kids,” he said.