Cash-strapped Md. may be forced to delay expansion of preschool
By: Leah Fabel
Examiner Staff Writer
March 30, 2009
Four-year-olds would be the latest Maryland residents affected by the state’s economic woes as efforts to expand access to pre-kindergarten will likely be delayed because of a lack of funds.
The news Monday from a spokeswoman for Gov. Martin O’Malley came as Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin released a list of county task force recommendations for how to provide universal access to pre-kindergarten in the county by 2014 — using some state money.
The cost to the county would be nearly $18 million, the report estimated, with the cost to the state closer to $40 million for Montgomery alone. The financial distribution would be in line with a plan issued by the state in December 2007.
Montgomery County houses about 13,500 4-year-olds. About 4,500 of them are entitled to public preschool for low-income families and children with special needs, with about 3,200 enrolled. Universal preschool would offer the remaining 10,000 4-year-olds, many of whom are in private preschool, free classes.
“For me, it’s about pushing the county to the forefront of the pre-kindergarten movement,” Ervin said, adding she was frustrated by O’Malley’s “lack of leadership” with regard to the likely delay. “Giving children the right start saves the county resources in the long run.”
O’Malley spokeswoman Christine Hansen stressed the governor’s continued commitment to early childhood education but said that “with the unprecedented economic downturn, [funding] would be difficult, and they’re working to balance other priorities.”
Lisa Snell, director of education and child welfare for the Reason Foundation, a free-market think tank in Los Angeles, said that not spending the money may turn out to be OK.
“Universal pre-kindergarten has been sold as a silver bullet for reform, to reduce the dropout rate, to raise achievement and make counties economically viable,” Snell said. “But there hasn’t been a revolution.”
Snell said the bulk of evidence showed that students who attended preschool were more prepared for kindergarten, but studies of long-term gains were inconclusive.
A report issued last week by the Maryland State Department of Education praised gains in kindergarten readiness since early childhood programs were brought under the department in 2005. Longer-term data, however, are unavailable.
