Schools

Pre-K summer flood coming?

Many registered statewide aren't enrolled this fall. Can districts efficiently teach them all in the summer session?

Paula Farrell expected to send Patrick, her 4-year-old, to prekindergarten this fall.

But many of the centers near her Seminole home were booked. Others gave preference to families paying for day care, too. So Patrick is at home playing with his little sister, while mom holds tight to the $2,500 certificate entitling him to a seat in the state's new pre-K program.

Farrell says she may use the certificate next summer, enrolling Patrick at his local public elementary school.

"He's asked about it," she said. "I'm thinking of it."

Education officials are worried that thousands of families across Florida are having the same thought. Of the 94,342 children who registered for pre-K this year, 20,384 have yet to sign up for a program. Another 4,022 are awaiting eligibility confirmation.

And that doesn't include the 46,000 other 4-year-olds who were expected to sign up but haven't.

If many of them come to public schools next summer for pre-K, "we have some serious concerns about whether we can pull it off," said Maria Crosby, the school readiness director for Pasco County, where several hundred families have not used their pre-K certificates.

Topping the worry list is the 300 hours of pre-K instruction the schools must provide. That works out to eight hours a day, five days a week, not including time for lunch, play or naps.

"We don't believe in (4-year-old) children needing to attend for 10 hours a day," said Donna Rippley, the early childhood education supervisor for Pinellas schools. She suggested six hours as the maximum.

Also of concern: whether districts can find certified teachers to fill the classrooms, and enough money to pay them.

School administrators across Florida are conferring. They want to speak to lawmakers with a unified voice when they ask them to change the pre-K law next spring. Key players in the House, which refused to consider amendments last spring, say they are ready to listen.

Some early learning coalitions, which oversee day-to-day pre-K operations for the state, are trying to get a handle on the intentions of families still holding certificates. The Pinellas County coalition plans to survey about 600 parents, while also meeting with district brass to prepare for summer classes.

The Hillsborough County coalition, which has nearly 1,000 prekindergarteners unaccounted for, intends to follow its neighbor's lead.

"The most important thing is, we want these children to get service before they get to kindergarten," Hillsborough coalition executive director Dave McGerald said. "If they're all waiting for the summer, that would be fine and dandy, but we need to have a heads-up."

Knowing how many children might attend would be a plus, Rippley said. But it won't solve the problem.

Consider the 300 hours of instruction required by state law. That's less than two hours a day when spread over a regular 180-day school year.

But during a two-month summer period, "it makes for a real long day," said Crosby, the Pasco readiness director.

To make the program less onerous, educators want to reduce the required hours. Some, such as Okeechobee superintendent Pat Cooper, say they can prepare children for kindergarten in a summer program of just 150 hours.

Others envision summer pre-K as an extension of kindergarten. The children will be on campus without older students, getting instruction while also getting comfortable. Pinellas has offered such a transitional program in past years.

Generally, the goal is to add flexibility to the law, said Wendy Hosking, a lobbyist for Polk County schools and president-elect of the Florida Education Legislative Liaisons.

"Some of the original legislation for the program had "up to 300 hours,"' said Joy Frank, general counsel for the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. "If that was reinserted, that would go a long way toward helping us."

The irony of such a request is not lost on Rep. Dudley Goodlette, the Naples Republican who sponsored the pre-K law. He notes that lawmakers were criticized for passing a program that required 540 hours of instruction during the 180-day school year. Many advocates wanted double that number.

"We realized that in a truncated time period of the summer, 540 hours was too many. But on the other hand, we didn't feel like they couldn't do 51/2 to 6 concentrated hours to get to the 300," Goodlette said.

But if pre-K takes up the entire summer break, it will eat into preparations for the regular school year, Crosby says. And many teachers will want time to recuperate before jumping into a new year.

Another issue is money.

The law funds pre-K at the same hourly rate as kindergarten, or about $2,500 per student during the school year. No one knows how that will translate to the shorter summer session, said Vern Crawford, a Palm Beach County schools lobbyist.

He thinks that because districts must supply certified teachers - a higher qualification than the longer program requires - the amount should not change. But only lawmakers can settle the matter, Crawford said.

Even if the amount remains the same, it's not enough, said Liz Karas, the early childhood learning services coordinator in Lee County.

About 60 percent of the total cost comes out of other accounts, including federal programs at high-poverty schools, she said.

"If we were to pay the teacher salaries and the assistant salaries, and we didn't buy any materials and equipment," Karas said, "conservatively speaking, we could just barely make it."

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

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