Under the plan, parents would get to choose between public and private programs but would have to provide transportation.
By Associated Press
Published April 14, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Parents of 4-year-olds could choose between prekindergarten programs offered by public schools and the private sector by the 2005-06 school year, under a bill approved Tuesday by a Senate panel.
The bill (CS SB 3036), sponsored by Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Sarasota, makes parents responsible for transportation to and from the voluntary program. It cleared the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education on a 7-0 vote and now moves to the full Appropriations Committee.
The bill would provide $7-million for a pilot program this summer for 10 districts, including Hillsborough and Pasco counties.
"Next year, we'll be armed with the ... number of students, and we'll be able to plug in the funding to start the (full) program in the fall of '05-06," Carlton said.
The proposal also requires school districts to be in compliance with the state's class size requirements to be eligible to offer pre-K.
However, it calls for a 540-hour program during the school year - a decrease from the 720 hours initially favored by Gov. Jeb Bush and the Department of Education. It also calls for a 300-hour version to be offered during the summer.
Bush - whose stance has been that he'd rather wait another year than accept a substandard bill - said Tuesday the Senate and House versions appear to be moving closer to an acceptable plan.
"It's beginning to look like there's a consensus that's emerging," he said. "It doesn't mirror exactly the recommendations that we embraced, but it comes pretty darn close."
Under the Senate plan, private providers could offer the 540 hours any time during the year. They would have to be licensed by an accepted accrediting association.
Differences such as teacher credentialing guidelines, student-teacher ratios and governance still need to be bridged in the Senate and House versions.
The Senate plan calls for the Education Department to administer the program, with school readiness moving to the Agency for Workforce Innovation. It also calls for at least one certified teacher for every 10 students, a change from its original plan to allow one teacher per six children.
A revised House plan (HB 821) was being drafted Tuesday that calls for the Education Department to govern pre-K doings, instead of Workforce Innovation, the choice in earlier plans. It will be discussed Friday by the House's education appropriations subcommittee.
Voters in 2002 mandated implementing free "high-quality" pre-K. The estimated startup cost is $262-million.
