Preschool should reach those most in need

By Des Moines Register

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In 2007, the Iowa Legislature established a statewide voluntary preschool program. The goal was to provide a free learning opportunity to all 4-year-olds, regardless of their families' incomes. Advocates pointed to research showing such an opportunity would improve academic achievement for students over time.

That has not happened in Iowa, according to a study released by the Iowa Department of Education last week. Independent analysts found any positive academic impact from taxpayer-funded preschool “appears to dissipate by third grade in both reading and mathematics.”

This is an important finding. Iowa should only spend its limited education dollars on programs that work. When something isn't working, it should be revisited and modified. The study should prompt conversations at the state and school-district level about potential changes to the preschool program that enrolled 24,000 children and cost taxpayers $60 million in 2012.

Among what lawmakers should consider:

• Preschool may not be reaching poor students while it subsidizes child care for youngsters from families with higher incomes.

School districts collect money for enrolled students, but may pass some of that money onto churches, childcare centers or other locations where preschool is held. At a daycare, for example, a licensed teacher comes in a few hours a week to teach the classes.

Not only are kids in a decent child care already being socialized and learning, the time these kids spend in “preschool” at the same location may be paid by the state - amounting to a taxpayer subsidy for parents who may have above-average incomes. Meanwhile, low-income students may not attend a child care offering preschool or be able to get to a program at all. How is a parent working at the mall going to transport a 4-year-old to preschool at midday?

Lawmakers should revisit Gov. Terry Branstad's 2011 proposal to require parents with higher incomes to pick up some of the cost of preschool. The money saved could be invested to more intensively help lower-income students who could most benefit from early intervention.

• The state should consider allowing others to teach preschool.

State law requires preschool to be taught by licensed teachers. Legislative proposals to allow others to do this job have been shot down. The result has been the hiring of hundreds of new educators across the state who cost taxpayers more than teachers' aides or other qualified professionals. And it appears this arrangement has not paid off in long-term academic gains for students.

“While this report's findings show no impact on students' test results four years after preschool, the report does not suggest the preschool program had no impact on participants,” including socialization, wrote Jason Glass, former director of the Iowa Department of Education, in a preface to the report.

Of course it does not take a licensed teacher to help children learn social skills. Lawmakers should reconsider allowing a wider variety of individuals to teach preschool, which would save the state money and expand who can work with children.

• School districts have a lot of flexibility and little accountability.

Iowa school districts have received hundreds of millions of dollars for preschool in the past few years while being given much flexibility in how to operate their programs. Perhaps too much flexibility. For example, though the law requires 10 hours of instruction per week, it does not specify how many days per week or weeks per year preschool is to be held. There is little information about which programs are working better than others.

Iowa's preschool program is only a good investment if it reaches those who most need it and improves student achievement in the long term. If that isn't happening, Iowa must revisit this increasingly expensive program and make changes.