N.Y.’S preschool fail
The state needs to solve funding delays for special-needs preschools — but even the solution is delayed.
The state Education Department, the Board of Regents and the Legislature have known for years that New York’s system of funding preschools for special-needs children is rife with delays.
Rather than solve the problem, even the solution to the delays has been delayed.
It sounds like a joke, right? It’s not. As the Times Union’s Kathleen Moore reports, preschools around the state are going broke and shutting down, leaving these children with no place to go for early intervention services. Short-staffed counties and school districts may try to fill in the gap with at-home therapies, but staffing shortages often leave them unable to serve each child adequately.
That’s bad enough for children who could use extra help and attention to ensure as strong an educational start in life as possible. But for every kid who can’t attend a preschool, there is likely a family breadwinner who consequently can’t go to work. That’s another family that may end up on public assistance, and another business looking to fill a job in a tight labor market.
Perhaps the most frustrating part of this is that the state has known about this problem for years. And the consequences mount.
At least seven preschools for special-needs students are closing as of the end of this school year, adding to what the state Senate Committee on Disabilities says is as many as 60 schools or programs that have shut down in recent years. The Education Department says the schools have found themselves in a grave financial situation because the state isn’t covering their actual expenses, a problem it identified in a report in 2014. That’s eight years ago, to put a fine point on it.
A fundamental problem with the formula is that it sets an initial reimbursement rate that’s already known to be lower than the likely cost. School operators can put in for higher reimbursement. But approvals can take years, leaving schools to operate at a loss while the student is there, and only getting approval after the child has moved on to kindergarten. Some schools that planned for the delay and set aside reserves to draw on during these funding lags have lately been using up years’ worth of savings as they deal with rising rents and growing needs, to the point where there is no cushion left.
The Legislature last year approved a measure to try to fix the funding formula and provide regular funding increases. But Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed it, saying she wanted to link the reimbursement rate to actual costs. This year’s state budget included an 11 percent rate increase she promised, and some extra money for staff to deal with the backlog, but it did not include a request from the Board of Regents for $1.5 million to redesign the funding system.
In other words, the state threw more money at the problem, but didn’t fix it.
It’s as if New York keeps coming up with punchlines for a bad joke. There’s a better way: Fix the formula and the reimbursement system. In other words, ditch the routine. It’s gotten old, and destructive.