From pre-K to college: Invest now

Florida voters feel so strongly about the importance of public education that more than a decade ago they passed a constitutional amendment calling it the state’s “paramount duty.” They also have approved a class-size amendment and a “high-quality” universal, voluntary pre-K program available at public schools or through private schools or faith-based organizations.

But even during flush times, when the state’s unemployment was one-third what it is today, politicians in Tallahassee have tried to gut public schools, strip any serious requirements from the class-size amendment and nickel-and-dime the pre-K program so that quality remains a bad joke on the families of 4-year-old children.

We’re all for competition and removing bureaucratic red tape from the education system. We believe charter schools, if overseen properly to ensure quality, and magnet programs have added a strong dose of competition that improves public education.

But quality remains elusive. As Florida’s economy continues to struggle, the GOP-controlled Legislature has focused on more draconian cuts to public education with little thought to what that means over the long term for the state’s economic fortunes.

Education is an investment. It’s a strategic plan. It’s not a feel-good, touchy-feely thing. It’s paramount.

This is why the state Board of Education’s new approach to budget considerations is a welcome and long-overdue change. Earlier this month, the board held a meeting in Tampa to look at ways Florida can close its education gaps in the short-, medium- and long-term. It covered a range of ideas from pre-K through the college years, as Florida’s public community colleges also fall under the board’s jurisdiction.

The meeting — convened by the board’s vice chair, Miami lawyer Roberto “Bob” Martinez, first appointed by former Gov. Jeb Bush — turned up excellent ideas.

Former Herald publisher David Lawrence, who now heads the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation, astutely pointed out at the meeting that “we do not have a high-quality program in Florida” when it comes to pre-K. As it is, Florida meets only three of 10 national standards for excellence in a study by the National Institute of Early Education Research at Rutgers. By contrast, Georgia’s pre-K program meets nine of the 10 standards. Pre-K must not be a baby-sitting exercise — it has to be a targeted, well-researched program to prepare children for kindergarten during a crucial year in a child’s language development and cognitive capabilities, as well as social interaction.

The board is not charged with pre-K programs, but Mr. Lawrence suggests it should be. We agree. The Legislature should not be throwing taxpayers’ money at a program that has steered away from its initial charge of providing high-quality pre-K with trained teachers to one that’s a patchwork of programs of barely three hours per day for a few months of the year. Meanwhile, Florida is spending less on the pre-K program today — $2,383 per child — than when it enrolled its first students, spending $2,500 on each, in 2005-06. Yet the cost of living has gone up almost 13 percent in the past five years.

The state board does not allocate money, but it does make recommendations to the Legislature. South Florida’s legislators need to push their colleagues to fund programs that show strong, data-driven results, not only in public schools but in languishing pre-K programs.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/30/2382865/from-pre-k-to-college-invest-now.html#ixzz1WbnVgrA9

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