PreK Funding

[callmebob]

Not trying to get political, but what do you think of the idea of trying to make Prek financially available to all children?
I have a hard time understanding the reasoning for this when there is not enough money for k-12 right now.

[mathmagic]

Not a full thought-out post...but more of a fleeting thought -- with both the Common Core raising the standards much higher and this raising the bar for funding much higher, perhaps even if it doesn't reach those points right away, it at least is forcing some progress towards that general direction. In both cases, that progress is a positive thing.

Much like the suit in WA State about the underfunding of education. While it may take numerous years to reach (or maybe it won't ever quite reach) the adequate funding levels, it forces discussions about it, and it will slowly add more money to the system.

[readingrules12]

I am all for it as long as money is not cut from K-12 spending to make it happen.

[callmebob]

Originally Posted by readingrules12

I am all for it as long as money is not cut from K-12 spending to make it happen.

Money keeps getting cut from K-12 so that is currently underfunded. Not sure where the money would come from for this. And even if we did have the money for it, I don't think it should happen. Some responsibility needs to be put on parents in our society. Instead we just keep taking the responsibility off of parents.

[KinderCowgirl]

I may be biased being a Kinder teacher, but I can tell you any money spent on Pre-K programs is well-spent. We can tell day one which kids didn't attend any kind of program before and they often start off academically behind.

I've heard the argument before that it's the parents' job to teach them at home, I think that's putting way too much faith in parents. Many don't know how or what even to teach their kids.

[ecteach]

Originally Posted by KinderCowgirl

I've heard the argument before that it's the parents' job to teach them at home, I think that's putting way too much faith in parents. Many don't know how or what even to teach their kids.

This is true even of educated parents. When my child went to a very good pre-k program, one of the intake questions was, "Does he know how to use scissors?" My response, "Uhhh....I have never given him scissors, so I don't know." I went on to tell her that I didn't think a 3 year old would even be capable of using scissors. The lady looked at me like I was an idiot. ha ha.

[swansong1]

We already have it in our state. Definitely makes a difference in the readiness and social experiences of our K students.

[KinderCowgirl]

Originally Posted by ecteach

This is true even of educated parents.

Oh totally. I didn't mean that the parents weren't capable, just that many have no idea how stringent K standards have become. They think that if they know their colors and shapes they are ahead of the game, and that's just not the case.

I have a lot of first-time parents and it's all so new to them-they ask me all the time, what can I do to help them learn to read, I just don't know how to help them.

[callmebob]

Why should tax payers pay for what parents should be responsible for? Either they should be teaching the kids these basic things at a young age themselves or they need to be able to pay for preschool themselves. yah it is putting a lot of faith in parents, but hello, That is a parents Number 1 job.

[readingrules12]

The cost of pre-school is so small compared to the costs later on to society. It costs $40,000/year for a prison inmate and only about $4000/year for a pre-schooler for a year. How do they decide how many prisons to build? Those in the prison business admit that one of the best indicators is to look at 5th grade reading test scores.