10th birthday of best gift for Florida 4-year-olds
In today’s environment, which often seems characterized more by disagreement than agreement, it is refreshing to be able to point to something we can all celebrate and be proud of.
Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program is 10 years old. That is, indeed, something our state can celebrate.
In 2002, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment that established a free statewide prekindergarten program for all 4-year-olds. Florida was the first state in the nation where voters mandated free prekindergarten on their own.
When I was Senate president, much of my focus had been on early education, specifically school readiness. One of the first things Gov. Jeb Bush asked me to do when I returned to state government as his lieutenant governor in 2003 was to help figure out how to implement the amendment that had passed. He appointed me to chair an advisory council.
It would be disingenuous to suggest that it was smooth sailing to translate what Florida voters approved into something the state could implement. There were bumps along the way. In retrospect, it was much like making sausage. There is no magic in the making, but the outcome is worth it.
Our council met throughout the summer and fall and developed a plan for the 2004 legislative session. The Legislature had other ideas, which the governor vetoed, saying that, if the state could not do it right, we should not do it at all. However, 2004 was the year of four major hurricanes, which neces- sitated a special session to address storm-related issues. We added VPK, outlining highquality expectations for 4-year-olds. It passed, and the governor signed it into law in 2005.
Since the first students began attending classes in August 2005, more than 1.7 million Florida children have benefited from a program that prepares them for success in school and life. Participation has grown substantially, and, now, about 78 percent of all Florida 4-year-olds attend VPK. Florida is second only to Texas in the number of children we serve.
As important as it is to provide access, it is even more important to have a program that works. Florida’s VPK program does. The most recent kindergarten-screening results show that 82 percent of children who completed VPK were ready for kindergarten compared to 54 percent of children who did not attend VPK.
Anecdotally, if you speak to Florida kindergarten teachers, you will hear them say that kindergarten today is like first grade used to be, and VPK makes it possible for them to teach what they need to.
And that takes me back to my roots as an elementary-school teacher. All my professional training (even back in the dark ages when I went to college) pointed to the fact that early brain stimulation produces better learners. The more we focus on the early years, the less we have to “fix” later.
While VPK is available to all Florida 4-year-olds, it offers many children who would not otherwise be able to afford prekindergarten the opportunity for cognitive stimulation at an early age that we know is so important to learning.
What would I like to see in the next 10 years? That VPK would continue to be funded at an adequate level and that standards for both the educational program and education level of personnel will increase. Ten years after implementation, my hope is that children who participated in the program are better learners because of it. Ten years from now, the program will be 20 years old and every child born and raised in Florida who has graduated from a Florida high school will have had the benefit of that early-learning opportunity. What a terrific gift toward success.
Who should celebrate this milestone? Florida voters who signed petitions and voted to created VPK. Early-education advocates who understood how critical the first years are in preparing children for academic success. Legislators, who may not have always agreed, but who have come together to support this program throughout its 10 years. VPK providers — public and private — and teachers around the state. Parents, families and the children who have gone to VPK and will go to VPK in the years ahead.