Free preschool program set to expand

The Mountain View Whisman School District is moving full-steam ahead on a new plan to revamp its free preschool program, allowing more middle-income families in Mountain View to enroll and dropping an income eligibility requirement that left dozens of preschool seats empty last year.

At a board meeting last week, preschool director Terri Wallace laid out the battle plan that would leverage more state funding and boost the number of three and four-year-old students in the district’s preschool program from 168 to 240 by the next school year. Unlike the local private preschools in and around Mountain View — which have a monthly tuitions ranging from $770 to $1,300 — the school district’s preschool program is almost entirely financed by the state, meaning families don’t pay a dime.

Preschool serves a critical function in the education system, giving young children the chance to develop cognitive and emotional skills at a formative time in their lives, and ensuring that they’re ready for school by the time they hit kindergarten. It’s also the juncture at which the achievement gap begins to take shape. One study found that students from lower-income families have heard 30 million fewer words than their peers by age 4, putting them at a significant disadvantage for future academic performance. High quality preschool can help close that gap, and Mountain View Whisman’s program received a top performance rating from the state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System.

Despite the importance of preschool, the cost is often prohibitively expensive for families. What’s particularly hard for families in Mountain View is that many don’t make enough money to pay for private preschool, but they also earn too much to take advantage of the local state-subsidized preschool program.

Of the 168 current district-run preschool spots here in Mountain View, 68 are only available to families who make less than the state income guidelines, which is just under $47,000 for a family of four. Additionally, another 68 seats are co-funded by the state and the federally funded “Head Start” program, which has even steeper income requirements that are based on the federal poverty line. That means a family of four has to make less than $24,300 a year to qualify.

By comparison, the median income for a family of four in Santa Clara County last year was $107,100.

“It’s very out of date for this high-cost area,” said Don Bolce, the director of early learning services for Santa Clara County. “It’s the same in California as it is in Louisiana and Mississippi.”

Not surprisingly, the low bar meant that a majority of those Head Start preschool spaces — 40 in total — remained empty through the beginning of the school year. An exception was later made and low- and middle-income families were eventually allowed to enroll in the program.

Mountain View isn’t the only city in Santa Clara County struggling to fill Head Start preschool spaces, Bolce said. School districts and nonprofits that run subsidized preschool programs in San Jose are also struggling to find families that qualify. Many of the lower-income families in the area find a job that boosts them above the low poverty threshold, he said, and others simply leave the area because its too expensive.

In response, Wallace said the Mountain View Whisman School District should drop Head Start funding altogether, and rely on state funding for subsidies for free preschool. That means 192 spots will be available for families with an annual income of less than $47,000 for the 2017-18 school year.

Even the higher, more lenient state eligibility requirements are subject to change, as soon as this year. A new bill proposed by former state assemblyman Rich Gordon, and later approved by Gov. Jerry Brown in September, will increase the income eligibility ceiling for families in Santa Clara County starting in the summer or fall of 2017. Wallace said the new income guidelines are currently being developed, and that the exact cut-off may not be available until the beginning of the next school year.

The remaining 48 preschool spaces in Mountain View’s program will be available for families for a sliding-scale fee, opening the door to an even greater number of middle-income families.

“There will still be a gap for middle-income families that earn more than the state allows for preschool enrollment, so providing slots at low-cost tuition would increase access for families hard-pressed to find alternatives,” Wallace said.

Although the scale hasn’t been set yet, Wallace said they have to charge families at least as much as the state reimburses for subsidized students. The 2015-16 reimbursement rate is from the state is just over $25 per day for part-day preschool programs, with a maximum reimbursement of $4,385 for a school year, according to Bolce.

Board president Jose Gutierrez said the preschool expansion is an important step towards closing the achievement gap during the first few “key years” of child development, so students coming into kindergarten are on a more even playing field and ready to learn. Board member Ellen Wheeler, similarly, called early childhood education the best investment the school district can make. She pointed to studies showing that every dollar invested in preschool saves seven dollars down the road in reduced social costs. The next frontier is shifting the district’s preschool program from a half-day program to a full-day program, she said.

“I’m glad to see we’re doing preschool for both 3 and 4 year olds, but they need more than three hours,” Wheeler said.

The Head Start program, which currently provides $239,000 to the preschool program, appeared to be more trouble than it was worth. On top of the unrealistic income eligibility requirements, its rules restricted the program to 17 students per classroom, which limited the total number of students the district could enroll. There contract with Head Start also included strict guidelines for instructional time and additional paperwork that will no longer bog down the preschool staff.

Without Head Start, the district now plans to place 24 students per classroom, effectively increasing the enrollment in the preschool program by over 40 percent without increasing the demand for space.

The hope, Wallace said, is that the waiting list to get into the district’s preschool program will be minimal starting next year. In the past, between 150 and 200 families would sign up for the program but never get in because of space limitations and the absurdly low income eligibility requirements for Head Start. Being able to accept all the families who want to get in, Wallace said, would be a great change of pace.

“It’ll be nice to not have to turn people away or have them waste away on the waiting list and not be enrolled,” Wallace said.

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