Rush to kill preschool a bad move

Carolyn Brown

By Jerry Zimmerman and Carolyn Brown

---

Last week, the Republican majority in the Iowa House “defunded” one of former Gov. Chet Culver's most celebrated initiatives: universal pre-K. In their haste to validate their small government credentials, House members missed an opportunity to avoid the perfectly foreseeable disasters that are occurring in Iowa's schools and economy because of the ever-increasing number of children, often poor, entering school unprepared.

Mr. Culver's ambitious program was expensive and flawed. However, rather than recognizing the urgency of the problem and revamping the program, the House killed it. They should have replaced it with a focused effort to design, test and refine a model that provides the experiences all children need to be successful in school.

The Legislature should focus on what is known. Students must acquire the requisite linguistic, cognitive and behavioral skills at an early age. It is simply too late to wait until a child comes to school to develop these skills as a 5-year-old. Children who fail in school are also less likely to become productive taxpayers.

Both parties claim that they want all children to have equal access to education in Iowa schools. In fact, many Republicans and Democrats are likely to argue that, instead of pre-K programming, focus on our schools. “We wouldn't need this expensive early childhood education program if schools were doing their jobs, if teachers were like they used to be, if there were no teachers' unions, if there was merit pay, if there was better school leadership ...”

Improving public schools is important but there is little evidence to suggest that improvement can close the gap for those without critical early language and cognitive experiences.

In these fiscally lean times, creativity is necessary. Cost-cutting must be offset with new, more efficient plans to tackle the pressing issues we face. For instance, why not take 25 percent of Culver's pre-K budget to recruit the best talent from around the nation to help design, develop and test an innovative model to serve newborns to 4-year-olds? Only then can we provide our teachers and schools with the raw materials they need to be successful. Our work force will improve and the economy will grow.

It will take more creative thinking and action and less politicking.

Jerry Zimmerman and Carolyn Brown are founders of Iowa City-based Foundations in Learning Inc., a provider of intervention solutions for students. Comments: jzimmermann@foundations-learning.com and cbrown@foundations-learning.com