Pre-K for all? It’s time
Everyone knows that not all children in Santa Fe are prepared on the first day of school. Anna might not be able to tell a teacher her name or address. Juan can’t count to 10 or recite the alphabet. Tyler can’t name his colors. Too often, children such as these start out behind and never catch up.
Yet despite understanding that early childhood education is essential to helping less privileged children start right on day one, the state of New Mexico has been unwilling — or too broke — to offer universal pre-K for all families who want it. Public schools have expanded access to early childhood education, but every year, families are turned away. There’s not enough space. Other moms and dads cannot afford private preschool; it’s simply too expensive.
Everyone understands this. What has challenged reformers is figuring out how to expand access to high-quality preschool, so that all families — especially those who most need it — can attend if they choose.
Making preschool a reality is not just the responsibility of parents or of the state’s education system, but of the community. At least that is how Mayor Javier Gonzales sees it. And that’s why he launched his Early Childhood Initiative, a plan to use city funds to make sure that all children can attend preschool if their parents so choose. He even figured out a way to pay for it.
On Wednesday, the Santa Fe City Council will decide if the mayor’s plan to pay for pre-K will be presented to voters in a special election this May. While all agree that preschool is a worthy notion, there is much debate over how the mayor wants to pay to improve access. He is proposing a 2-centsper-ounce tax on sugary drinks, estimated by the city to bring in $7.7 million a year in new revenue. Those dollars would be spent making pre-K more widely available, using existing programs and providers.
The debate over taxing sugary drinks is beyond contentious already, with the goal — paying for preschool — becoming lost in the commotion. This is not a step for Santa Fe to take lightly. A so-called soda tax will impact families with less money more (although, to be fair, no one has to drink sodas or other sugary drinks). That’s concerning. It is true, as critics point out, that if people drink fewer sodas because they are more expensive, the revenue stream to pay for preschool could be inadequate. City councilors have questions, too, wondering about how the tax will be collected and how the money will be handed out. Good, let’s have the debate. It’s important.
What we have learned is encouraging. The tax is on soda and sugary-drink distributors — that means the local CocaCola plant, but also grocery store supply chains and big corporations such as Starbucks that sell sugar-sweetened drinks. The city plan calls for hiring a half- or full-time city employee to oversee collections, as well as a third-party vendor that specializes in such taxes. A soda tax should not lead to the creation of a new bureaucracy.
At the distribution point — where money is given to provide more preschool slots — the good news is that Santa Fe has a strong early childhood education infrastructure in place. There is Santa Fe Community College’s Early Childhood Center of Excellence, Santa Fe County United Way preschool initiatives, Head Start, Santa Fe Public Schools and many private providers. City dollars will supplement what is already here. The goals are for more classrooms across the city to meet quality benchmarks under the National Institute for Early Education Research, for more families to be able to afford to send their children and for space to be available. Part of the initiative includes training, the creation of 56 new classrooms and employment of at least 196 additional teachers, administrators and staff.
Importantly, the city is not going to set up shop as a preschool provider. Key words from the city’s plan: “Build on, but don’t duplicate, Santa Fe’s early childhood capacity and assets.”
In a perfect world, the public school system would have all the money it needs to provide much-needed pre-K. Private providers would offer scholarships so that all families could afford to send children. A city such as Santa Fe, whose chief responsibilities are picking up trash, maintaining roads and ensuring public safety, would be less involved when it comes to ensuring the welfare of children. That is not the world in which we live.
Mayor Gonzales and his Pre-K for Santa Fe supporters see an acknowledged need. Nearly 1,000 3- and 4-year-olds in Santa Fe lack access to high-quality early learning programs. Some 72 percent of the children identified are Hispanic, with more than 58 percent living in households with an income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or $36,325 for a family of four. The children who most need these educational opportunities, in other words, don’t have them.
The mayor’s Pre-K for Santa Fe plan identifies the need and finds a way to pay for it. On Wednesday, city councilors should ask their questions and hammer out differences — Santa Fe needs for this to be done right. Then, let the voters decide. Sooner, rather than later, not just because children are waiting but to avoid a long, ugly campaign. Pre-K for Santa Fe? It’s about time.