When kindergartners started school statewide this fall, some of them had seen letters, could name shapes and were ready for school. Others were not.
Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park, is worried about those others. The years she’s spent trying to secure funds for early childhood education are paying off with a recent groundswell of support.
In part, a draft recommendation is on the table for the state to spend $250 million in the next two years on parent education and support, increased wages for childcare workers and a rating system for preschools, among other things. But not everyone thinks these are good ideas.
Some come in unprepared
Kagi, who’s running for reelection to the state Legislature next month against opponent Steve Gibbs, has talked with kindergarten teachers who say their students are woefully underprepared for school, a situation that’s been declining for years.
“They see some kids who don’t know colors, shapes,” Kagi said. “Some of the kids have never seen letters.”
Kris Baumann, who’s taught half-day kindergarten at North City Elementary in the Shoreline School District for nine years, has seen more students coming in unprepared. At the school, 40 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunch. Half day kindergarten is free.
“I would say most are ready, but we are seeing more who are not ready,” Baumann said.
Some students have never had a story read to them and some parents don’t realize it’s important to do that, she said.
Millie Dearing, who’s taught kindergarten for 37 years, teaches full day kindergarten — which costs $2,400 a year — at North City.
She sees more children who are ready for school than she did 30 years ago, she said. Children who attend preschool are more prepared, but preschool costs money, she added.
“Fewer and fewer of our children are able to attend (preschool),” she said. “We have a horrible time getting our ELL (English Language Learner) population into preschool, so they are starting farther behind.”
Some schools in the district have few problems with underprepared children. For example, Liz Travis teaches full day kindergarten at Brookside Elementary.
She doesn’t see many students coming to school who’ve never seen letters, for example, but she doesn’t serve the neediest children in the district, she said.
The role of parents
One reason many children aren’t ready for school is that their parents don’t read to them or even talk to them, Kagi said. Parenting didn’t come naturally to her, either, she said.
“When I had my first baby, Christopher, my mom was talking to (him) and I said, ‘Why is she talking to him? He can’t understand,’” she said. “A lot of young people having babies don’t know how important interaction is.”
Technology, including televisions and computers, has reduced the amount of live interaction between parents and kids, she added.
Another problem is that parents have no way of telling whether a preschool is high quality. The state has a licensing system, but not a rating system.
In addition, low pay and high turnover at some preschools diminish their quality, Kagi said.
Proposed fixes
In the next few months, the Legislature will look at fixing those problems, in part through a blueprint offered by Washington Learns.
Washington Learns is a group of business and labor leaders, educators and legislators created by Gov. Chris Gregoire to look at public education.
Its draft recommendation, released recently, addresses learning from preschool to college. The final draft in November will likely form the foundation of the governor’s budget, Kagi said.
The draft report recommends that childcare workers get higher pay and more professional development, that full-day kindergarten is free to all students, and that parents have access in many languages to information on what kind of interaction young children need for development.
These changes are estimated to cost about $250 million over the next two years.
Kagi is on the Early Learning Advisory Committee for Washington Learns and was prime sponsor of a bill that created the Department of Early Learning, which puts all state early childhood services under one roof.
She has also been involved with a proposal to set up a voluntary rating system for preschools. Those with higher ratings would get more funding from the state, making higher salaries possible, Kagi said.
In addition, Thrive by Five, a coalition of government, business and philanthropic leaders, plans to launch an education campaign for young parents. It also is aiming to improve access to preschools and raise the bar on quality.
Thrive by Five, launched this summer and co-chaired by Bill Gates and Gregoire, already is funded with more than $9 million. Kagi is vice chair.
What about K-12?
Some have questioned the new initiatives to support early learning given the funding deficit in kindergarten through 12th grade education.
“What I fear is we’re already having problems with K-12, now they’re expanding backwards,” said Gibbs, Kagi’s opponent in the November election. “I’m fearful when we start this there will be a cry to keep it going. We don’t have enough money.”
He said he sees the importance of early learning and of parent involvement, but that the state shouldn’t get too involved.
Local support
Pat Valle, co-president of the Shoreline Education Association, the teacher’s union, said she supports the early childhood initiatives.
“The sooner we can get to kids, the sooner we can address deficiencies,” she said. “It can only improve their learning later on.”
Baumann, the kindergarten teacher at North City, sees the money spent on early childhood education as an investment.
“Some of these kids are going to need a lot of remedial services,” she said. “Had they had preschool, or the parents been able to do these things at home, they wouldn’t need so many services. In the long run it saves everyone money.”
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