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Pre-K funding too low, some say

What legislators have settled on - about $2,500 per student - might mean some children are screened out.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published April 18, 2005

Academy of Learning Inc. usually has 10 to 12 prekindergarten seats open for new families each fall.

They don't last long.

Parents quickly nab spaces at the St. Petersburg preschool, where children act, paint and learn their educational basics from teachers with bachelors degrees.

Owner Jenifer McKee would love to fill this fall's open slots with children from the state's new voluntary prekindergarten program. But money, she says, is a problem.

Florida legislators have settled on about $2,500 per student for the 540-hour program, an amount McKee and other private providers say is too low to cover the cost of educating a 4-year-old.

If the funding doesn't change - and few think it will - the result could be a serious shortage of seats in a pre-K system that is supposed to be universal.

"I don't believe the state, if they want to run a good program, can do it at $4.63 an hour," says Steve Silvers, owner of Kids R Kids, a preschool in Hillsborough's Westchase community. "A babysitter gets $10 an hour ... and we're not talking about babysitting services."

Families who want pre-K without additional day care are most likely to lose out. McKee blames the state rule that prohibits providers from requiring enrollment in anything more than pre-K.

While some preschools, including Silvers', plan to focus on paying customers, McKee and others are talking about ways to finesse the law. They might rely on a section that allows them to determine "whether to admit any child."

The provision was written, in part, to allow faith-based schools that accept children only of specific religions to participate in pre-K.

But for McKee, it means telling any family that wants pre-K without before- and after-school services that they will go on a waiting list. If any spots remain when classes begin, she will call them.

"Then I would do my best to fill the program with full-time students," she said.

Elaine Peverell, owner of Lutz Learning Center, plans a similar strategy. First priority will go to children who attended as 3-year-olds, she says, and next to children who need to stay all day.

The only way to make the program feasible is to have parents supplement the state voucher, Peverell says.

"I don't know how that will settle with the rule that says you can't make them stay all day," she said. "I'm going to do the state program, and I'm going to do it the way I can afford to do it."

Two Democratic legislators who have tried to change the law and its funding aren't surprised by the reaction.

"$2,500 is not enough to entice the top-quality providers," said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston. "This wonderful idea of universal prekindergarten will not be implemented the way the voters intended."

Rich and Rep. Lorrane Ausley of Tallahassee, who tried to increase the per student spending to $3,500, say they expected the provision allowing schools to select their students to be problematic. But when they argued against it last year, their main concern was that schools would discriminate against lower-achieving students or on the basis of religion.

Now it appears the discrimination could focus more on money, they say.

"When you give the authority to turn away anyone for any reason, there are any number of consequences, some of which may not be intended," Ausley said.

Bills to change the prekindergarten law are stalled in the House and Senate. Ausley says parents will have to drive future changes by demanding the high quality program Florida voters approved in 2002.

Meanwhile, McKee says she will do what she can to participate in the state program until the kinks are worked out.

"This is the first year," she said. "I firmly believe we need to support this program so it can continue and get better."

--Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 18, 2005, 00:52:13]