Pre-k funding is restored by Shelby
16 day cares rejoice at news
Besides Nationa l Doughnut Day, Friday was the day 16 community day care centers got word that their pre-K funding from Shelby County Schools was restored. At Red Robin Academy on Cooper, doughnuts just made it sweeter.
“In May, we had the children make signs that said ‘Save our pre-K,’ said center director Robin Mayweather. “By Monday, they’ll say, ‘Thank you for saving our pre-K.’”
Mayweather and center directors in every corner of town now have to figure out how to alert families that the money is back and that mandatory pre-K screenings start at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
“We’re going to have to find some creative ways to get the word out because we have space,” Mayweather said.
In early May, school district officials announced they were cutting 82 of 200 pre-K classrooms in Memphis, citing an $ 8 million budget gap caused by the sequestration and expiring Race to the Top grants. Within days, they had found a way to restore 29 classrooms. Two days later, interim Supt. Dorsey Hopson told the school board there was money to restore a total of 40 classes, or seats for 800 eligible 4-year-olds.
But he also said his own research showed that 70 of the Memphis City Schoolsfunded classes were not full, and 109 did not have waiting lists.
“When we start talking about right-sizing, we have to right-size pre-K too,” Hopson said.
The school district restored 12 pre-K classes in city schools and 25 classrooms in partner day cares. Each school classroom costs $117,490; each community site cost $89,281, for a total of $3.9 million.
In a meeting Friday morning with district officials, day care operators were told they must take attendance every day and keep their classes full. State statute limits pre-K classes to 20 children and requires they be at 90 percent capacity.