Iowa City schools explore expanding preschool options for families

IOWA CITY — The Iowa City Community School District is planning to continue expanding its preschool offerings, adding two new preschool programs with before- and after-school care for the 2023-24 school year, Superintendent Matt Degner said. The location of these programs has not yet been decided.

The district also is reaching out to other cities and school districts in Johnson County to seek a vote on local-option sales tax, with plans to devote 10 percent of revenue to Iowa City schools for preschool programming. Degner and Iowa City school board member Lisa Williams met with other city and school officials in a joint entities meeting earlier this month to explore ways 4-year-old preschool offered by the district can be enhanced.

Local-option sales tax is a voter-approved tax whose revenue is received by counties or cities in Iowa and can be expanded for any lawful purpose. Currently, in Johnson County, only the cities of Hills, Lone Tree, Solon, Swisher and West Branch have a local-option sales tax. In certain counties, at least 50 percent of the revenue must be used for property tax relief if the tax is approved after Jan. 1, 2019.

The proposal from the district would have each city funding services for children enrolled in the program from its jurisdiction. For the measure to be put on a ballot, cities and school districts must have their decision and revenue purpose statements finalized by April, according to an agenda from the joint entities meeting Jan. 9. A group of representatives from each entity will be appointed to work on the educational campaign.

The entities involved in the discussion include the cities of Coralville, Hills, Iowa City, Lone Tree, North Liberty, Oxford, Shueyville, Solon, Swisher, Tiffin and University Heights. Also involved are the Clear Creek Amana Community School District Board of Directors; Iowa City Community School District Board; University of Iowa; and Johnson County Board of Supervisors.

The district launched a preschool pilot program with before- and after-school care during the 2022-23 school year at Wickham and Shimek elementary schools. The sites operate from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Before- and after-school care is operated by Champions, a national child care provider. The cost for families who use it is $120 per week for morning preschool with before- and after-school care and $130 a week for afternoon preschool with before- and after-school care.

The Iowa City district currently offers around 42 sections of preschool in its schools with around 600 preschool students enrolled. Morning programs are offered Monday through Friday from 7:55 to 10:45 a.m. Afternoon programs are offered Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from noon to 2:55 p.m.

Full-day programs are offered at Twain and Hills elementary schools for income-eligible families living in those attendance areas.

The Gazette sat down with Superintendent Matt Degner to talk about the future of preschool in the Iowa City Community School District.

Q: Are district officials looking into offering more full-day preschool options with before- and after-school care?

A: One of (the school board’s) goals is to continue to try to ramp up our preschool offerings and opportunities to families. We know a half-day environment can be a significant challenge for families trying to figure out a drop off and pick up during the work day. What we would really like to do is continue to expand on that pilot program in years moving forward.

The other thing we tried to do is offer a no-pay option for families on child care assistance for (before- and after-school care). That was an important part of our (request for proposal) we put out to Champions.

Q: Does the district currently have a full-day preschool program?

A: There are two sections of full-day preschool for income-eligible families. Those are at Twain and Hills funded through a Shared Visions grant. Only two of our sites qualify for that grant. That’s what allows us to do full-day session at those sites. Some of our concern is that’s not sustainable either. We’re continuing to think about how we can do more full-day options without this grant funding.

Q: What are the challenges of operating full-day preschool programs?

A: I think a couple challenges are adequate space currently at our buildings. That space issue is one we’ve talked about with move to middle schools. Some classroom space will be freed up as sixth-graders leave the elementary schools and are added to middle school. We hear from families they would like more preschool offerings, just the half-day program doesn’t work.

The state funds half-day preschool. That’s a great step. We would really like to see it funded at the all-day level. I don’t think that’s likely based on conversations we’re seeing. I think it’s something we should continue to push for. It’s what our families need and deserve, and we will continue to list it as a legislative priority and advocate for that.

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