Faced with plummeting student populations — and therefore less state money — Maine school districts are increasingly adding another year of public education. While reams of research highlight the benefits of early childhood education, there has been no widespread discussion in Maine about the addition of a 14th year of public school.
The explosion in new pre-kindergarten programs statewide has helped ease what had been years of hemorrhaging school enrollments, but data suggest the trend only masks the reality that Maine is still rapidly losing youth.
School systems across the state are rushing to add pre-kindergarten programs for a litany of reasons. One such reason is to inflate enrollment numbers, which are factored into how much in state subsidies each district receives from the Department of Education.
From the 2000-01 school year to 2011-12, the most recent year for which data are available, overall public school populations in Maine fell by nearly 20,000 — from 207,438 to 188,686.
Nearly half of that decline — or 9,297 of the 18,752 students lost since the turn of the century — came within the last four years. Yet over the same four-year period, elementary school numbers have fallen by only 2,313 students, and in the most recent three years, the decline has plateaued.
One reason is the sharp increase in pre-kindergarten programs.
Since 2000-01, the number of students younger than 5 who have been counted in Maine’s public school population has multiplied fourfold, from 1,057 11 years ago to 4,873 during the 2011-12 school year.
“[The addition of a pre-kindergarten program] will produce a higher count than would otherwise be there for that system,” said Jim Rier, Maine’s deputy commissioner of education and the department’s expert on finances. “From my perspective, [pre-kindergarten programs] won’t cause an increase in enrollment statewide, K-12. Student enrollment is still declining. This is just sort of buffering what are otherwise [steeper] enrollment declines.”
According to the most recent list posted by the Maine Department of Education, reflecting the 2010-11 school year, there are 178 public pre-kindergarten sites in the state, with many local school districts running multiple sites.
Of the eight school systems in the state that have bucked the overall trend and added students since 2000-01, only one — Wells-Ogunquit — has done so without adding 4-year-olds to the mix.
And while it’s nearly impossible to isolate the effect that adding 4-year-olds to a school’s population will have on its amount of state aid — many other factors, such as local property values, are taken into account — many districts where early childhood programs have been added have seen increases in their state subsidies. Such subsidies are based, in part, on the number of students in each district.
Of the 73 school systems providing public education for 4-year-olds that could be tracked in the current funding cycle, 45 are due to see increases in state education aid from 2011-12 to 2012-13.
Adding to the enrollment incentive is the state policy that each pre-kindergarten student count as a full student in the school’s population, even if that pre-kindergartner only attends school for half of each day. So if a school enrolled 15 4-year-olds in a morning session and another 15 4-year-olds in an afternoon session, the school would add 30 full students to the population used to calculate its state subsidy, even though the school likely only would need the teachers, space and equipment for 15 students at any given time.
However, Rier said he isn’t aware of any district double-dipping in that manner.
In Orrington, school officials previously told the Bangor Daily News the addition of pre-kindergartners offset population losses in other grades by a 2-to-1 ratio, boosting the district’s funding enough to keep a teacher position they otherwise would have needed to be cut. It also allowed the hire of an additional education technician.
Ed Cervone, executive director of the Maine Development Foundation, a group that monitors school populations and their effects on the economy, said there are many strong reasons for a district to launch a pre-kindergarten program. But simply boosting a district’s population in hopes of staving off state subsidy losses isn’t one of them.
“For some of these schools, especially the rural schools where they’ve seen more significant declines, those extra bodies will help them out with a little more in state subsidies,” Cervone said. “But that shouldn’t be the primary reason for doing it.
“The discussion of pre-K as a means of boosting your [state funding formula] numbers, that can be an added benefit for districts that are experiencing declining enrollments, but that should never be the rationale in our minds for doing it,” he continued. “The rationale for doing it is a cost savings for you over time.”
Cervone said that while an explosion in public school programs for 4-year-olds won’t stem the overall decline in Maine student populations in the long term, skyrocketing pre-kindergarten numbers can help the state deal with rising education costs per child.
Over the same decade in which statewide enrollments fell by nearly 20,000 students, the state’s cost per pupil rose by nearly a third — from $6,640 in 2000-01 to $9,630 in 2010-11. In short, Maine is paying more to educate fewer students.
Cervone said studies indicate that pre-kindergarten programs are key to getting per-student costs under control over the long term.
“Kids who get a good education earlier in their life are a lot less likely to need remediation or special education services, and that’s an increasing cost,” he said.
A variety of reports over time have found that investments in early education programs, such as pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds, pay significant financial returns down the road. Studies on the subject have claimed that each $1 spent on early childhood education generates anywhere from $4 to $16 in savings in the future, Cervone said.
“From society’s standpoint, if you’re dealing with those kids from birth to [age] 5, they’re going to be less likely to end up in the criminal justice system, they’re going to be less likely to need social services, and they’re going to be more likely to get a steady job with a livable wage,” he said. “You don’t realize it overnight, but over time, you’ll start seeing that [investment] coming back to you. Particularly, with Maine populations on the decline, you’ve got to do more with what you’ve got. Any way you can stack the deck in kids’ favor, that’s just another way of managing a small resource pool.”
The longer-term payoff is what motivates Bath-area Regional School Unit 1, one of many systems in the state ramping up toward what ultimately will be a universal pre-K program in the five-town district.
This year year, RSU 1 has 96 pre-kindergartners counted in its population, and district finance director Ruth Moore said the new grade level is responsible for about $100,000 worth of the system’s $1.4 million increase in state aid from the previous year to this one.
But she said the pre-K offerings account for nearly $214,000 in district spending, and that doesn’t include another $50,000 in grant money the system sought to help fund the program. So while the additional students boost state aid, the system launched the program more with Cervone’s data in mind than in search of subsidy increases, Superintendent Patrick Manuel said.
“It’s maybe hard [to rationalize the additional spending] in some cases, because you want to see the immediate impact of a new program, like a new [Advanced Placement] class or a new vocational class,” Manuel said. “Pre-K is a longer term investment … but the research really indicates that the earlier we can get them, the better.”
Years of “hemorrhaging student enrollment? ” Go back to January 22, 1973 and figure that 40 years will be the commemorative time come January 22, 2013 for the killing of over 54 million unborn babies during that span. Where would they have been in the spectrum of life now?
You are now going off on a whole new discussion here talking about abortion. Please stick to the subject and let’s not digress into the past but look toward the future.
More than likely, many would have grown up dependents of the state and would have been demonized as parasitic “takers” by the same “pro-life” conservatives who try to cut education and social spending at every opportunity? That’s just a guess of course. ;)
Well at least they would have had a chance. Why are you so violently opposed to having a chance?? Never needed one yourself??
Huh.
I thought you liked unvarnished truth? It wasn’t an endorsement of abortion.
Pure speculation. I thought it was open-minded to give people a choice. Guess not.
Well of course it is. Any “what if” type questions are.
I’m not for denying choice. Help me out here dad, not sure what you’re getting at.
I don’t see that as speculation, it is more than likely what will happen to many of those unwanted children.
You folks should make up your minds about what you want, more kids on the dole or less…….
And at least seven people who absolutely loathe the unvarnished truth give you thumbs downs.
“In a time of universtal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” (Orwell).
Got to get those little ones into school early so that they can be indoctrinated into the liberal mold, and besides, those displaced teachers need a new home as well.
It’s all good here in MEA land.
That’s a bunch of crap. We have many kids who need to be socialized and used to a school setting before they can learn. Go troll somewhere else please.
Here’s a unique idea;
Let’s have the parents do this job.
Not a bad suggestion. However, it isn’t being done in many circumstances, so we have to make the best of it. Can’t punish the little ones because their DNA donors aren’t doing their jobs.
Expansion of municipal daycare is just another example of the entitlement mentality of the entitlement breeders who ganged up to vote themselves government parenting subsidies offered by their liberal elite overlords. Who, like you Gary, clearly don’t respect parents, alternately regarding them as competition or something to place the blame. Justifying municipal daycare for 3 year olds by claiming the “investment” (code for the spending) avoids criminal activity and unemployment decades later, is a crock. Oh, you don’t want pre Kindercare, you must want unemployed criminals. LOL! Where is the companion article for pre-K breakfast and dinner?
That is just silly. There are many parents who are doing wonderful jobs raising their kids. We have some amazing kids at our school, yet in each classroom, there are a few parents you would like to take by the shoulders and say “What are you thinking?” Oh, and before you crap on municipal daycare situations, Finland, the nation that leads in academic achievement right now, has fully subsidized childcare.
The really amazing children are being educated far away from the indoctrination camp experience of school They are being schooled. at home and in private and charter schools.
Teacher’s unions are running scared for being subjected to the rules of the free market where they will actually be required to produce a comparable product.
Not true at all. Public schools are educating some really terrific young people who will be successful once they leave. The difference between the two settings is public schools cannot sh
ut out society’s problems like private/charter schools can.
Pointing to Europe as an economic model has drawbacks, such as it’s failing, You would think a teacher would be able to present a more convincing argument for enabling municipal taking over of parental responsibilities, other than saying someone correctly describing the concept “is just silly.” Let me guess, you teach grade 2? Municipal daycare needs consolidating and reigning in, like the Governor has been saying. Expanding it just to get the money for doing it, is selfish, immature, and dangerous.
European Socialism (and education) is a FAR cry from the Socialism and social indoctrination that our country is shifting into. Our country is less than 300 years old and the European socialist values are MUCH different than the US values. Their socialism works for them because of their culture and values which the US simply does not have. We are too immature of a country. It is like comparing apples to oranges. They are both fruit, but entirely different species.
I did not bring up European Socialism, I merely negated it as an optimal model after a Maine teacher mentioned it as defense for the town feeding 4 year olds breakfast lunch and dinner. “Maturity” of a country has nothing to do with it. European socialism works in Finland and Sweden because there is no expanding population of procreating entitlement underclass that’s become a voting block majority. Socialism eventually runs out of other people’s money to spend, then sixteen trillion later exclaims “What’s your problem” when someone says the gig is up. In flies the holy Obama to save the day? More like point the blame, then take credit.
And you know why? Finnish and Swedish citizens don’t need to procreate entitlement because their health care isn’t forcing them to choose between food, medicine, or fuel.
It’s quite possible you are the one who has been indoctrinated by some sort of tin foil hat society.
Nope. Just indoctrinated in the school of common sense after having lived in three countries and 9 United States. I can reasonably see and argue from experience. Guest, you are free to snipe at me if it makes you feel better, but the reality is that I do have real world experience. I have been personally invited and testified before Congress and advocated in my local community just as strongly for the truth.
This is a comment section of a rural paper where people tell tall tales. I highly doubt what you are saying is true.
I think your ideas are way off. If you think telling kids to get in line and do what they are told to do while in school is indoctrination I wouldn’t want you teaching a child of mine.
Teaching them to be polite and patient is important.
Guest, do you consider yourself a “polite and patient” person
Finland’s test scores are amongst the world’s best. That you cannot deny.
Finland, like many other countries, has just one social group to teach. Try immigrating to Switzerland.
In loco parentis isn’t the answer.
If we could MAKE parents have responsibility to do this job then you’d be on to something here. What you don’t seem to realize is that more parents then you can imagine have no interest or in many cases, ability to socialize their offspring.
I’m torn on this issue because real parents really could do a much better job of training children social skills needed in life and work than any teacher who only deals with a child for a 1/2 day (3hrs.) of pre-k. Those few parents interested in being real parents and their children would be much better off staying home for another year or two. For the rest who don’t see, hear, speak to or discipline their children it would be best that society take as much control as possible as soon as possible to ensure that the numbers of sociopaths entering society can be kept to a minimum.
And many families have both parents working full time.
If both parents are there at all.
You don’t like what he says so he is a “troll”…….typical liberal “acceptance” and “tolerance” of differences.
If the label fits…
Wow! Such fears and paranoia. If all pre-school does is encourage social skills (especially non-violence), it’s accomplished a lot. A certain assassin could have used such social skills. In addition, the educational head start (3 Rs) can only help.
Ya.
And it makes it a lot easier for some nutcase to go beserk and start killing with them all in one place, unprotected, in another of your “safe” gun free zones.
exactly….Gopher is probably the next Lanza, just waiting to line ’em up….anti-gun liberals are sick twisted freaks
You got that RIGHT!
Explain liberal mold if you would. I’d like to know how 4 year olds are being indoctrinated. This should be interesting.
“We need to line up now.”
“Listen to your teacher… she is the adult.”
“It is time to rest now – do you see how Jonny is resting? You need to be like him.”
“We should never have guns because the police will protect us… How many of your parents have guns?”
“We should always talk our problems out. We should never yell. How many of you have mommies and daddies who yell?”
Please…we are taught how to do leading questions in teacher preparation classes as well as inservice. Read Curriculum 21. It is the liberal handbook for incorporating Agenda 21 in the public schools.
I’m not much on blind conformity, though being successful in society requires a certain degree of conformity, does it not? Laissez-faire parenting / teaching is fine if that’s what they choose for their children, though it’s not necessarily better, especially for large class settings. There’s nothing wrong with discipline and structure as long as it isn’t taken to extreme.
There are plenty of liberals that are into alternative education paths. It’s not just conservatives who are dissatisfied with the state of public schools.
Authoritarianism and the push to conform is found in both liberal and conservative circles, albeit different forms, isn’t it?
Are you serious?? Children’s basic world views are being shaped by age three or four.
Is there is a difference between education and indoctrination?
Apparently not in Maine.
Are you a product of the public school system? I grew up in the Maine system. Amazingly, some friends developed into liberals, some developed into conservatives, some developed into apathetic or political agnostics. How did this happen?
It seems to me that this country is almost evenly liberal/conservative. Of course it leans further some ways in certain states than others, though if the liberal agenda that has been going on for decades (as I always hear from the far right wing set), was real, wouldn’t the divide be more pronounced? Or are the liberals just really bad at indoctrination?
Would you care to explain the indoctrination you’re talking about? Examples? Or are you content to just continue to post inane talking points?
Your comment shows that you do not have any education at all.
Roxie, what’s your experience?? I can say as an ex-educator and MEA rep (who still works in different schools in a different capacity) that Yowsa is spot on.
So again: What’s your education on this issue??
Yowsa’s constant “liberal” comments. If he/she was educated it would not be the cookie cutter comment over and over. There does not seem to be any constructive or discerning comments. Schools need to be revamped, but as long as everyone wants “local control” no one gets along. Maine may get their act together in the next century and it will be too late. And NO I do not believe in charter schools and tax money being used for those purposes.
Don’t know if anyones mentioned this, but the election is over. You can go back to being smart now.
Enrolling kids in Pre-K will give the school system a 1 year boost in enrollments. These are not incremental children to the school system, they would be showing up in a year anyway.
Plus Pre-K enrollment opening go to children who receive services from the state first, I know this from personally trying to enroll my daughter. They have headstart as an option in a lot of communities and daycare vouchers. Let those vouchers/funds go to headstart/daycares in their communities that already exist and are way better than the Pre-K rat race.
The schools like the Pre-K idea because they receive double the funding as a traditional child. If the average kiddo is “worth” say $5.00 a day in K-grade 12, a pre-k student is worth $10.00. The schools are seeing this as a great plus but what they are forgetting is that this “rush” is only good for one year.
Children at the age of 4 (3 if their birthday is before October 15) belong in smaller education settings. Tossing a 3/4 year old on a school bus with all of the other children is just plain WRONG!
Learn to operate within a budget (killer idea) and all is well.
why can’t parents get them to school themselves?
our son goes to pre-K (and we do not receive services from the state, the school took all that enrolled). He rides the bus to school with only pre-K kids, and when he rides it home it has some older kids (K, maybe 1st and second graders too), but the pre-K kids are all seated together in the front of the bus. there have been no problems with the bus and he enjoys it.
These programs are important because we have so many kids from poverty who need socialization and programs, like speech therapy, that the parents can’t afford. Kids who don’t live in neighborhoods need to be around other kids their age in a positive, structured environment. Basic social, mental, and physical needs have to be met before kids can learn. it is money well spent.
if the parents can’t afford an education for their kids, they shouldn’t have kids
True, but you can’t send them back.
Not true. You can only get store-credit though.
no you can not, but we do not need to “fix” their parents mistake.
So the emphasis for the “public” schools has now become “job creation” as opposed to “educating children”?
Wrong.
“School systems across the state are rushing to add pre-kindergarten programs for a litany of reasons. One such reason is to inflate enrollment numbers, which are factored into how much in state subsidies each district receives from the Department of Education.”
more like dead-on and plain as day for all to see…..these ‘educators’ don’t care about kids, they care about keeping the federal dollars coming in so they can keep their jobs
it’s disgusting and pathetic
In some cases it may be true, but in many cases, the kids are better off in the setting than in their home situations.
Yes Jack, and gay people only wanted the right to marry because of the tax benefits, right? Money is all people care about?
Classic case of projection it seems to me.
With 30 plus years of Demo/Union control, that’s all it’s ever been.
Just slightly off.
1) It’s all about “job preservation.”
2) It’s all about wasting taxpayer money – it’s not your money – it belongs to the teacher’s unions, don’cha know…
3) It’s all about the “education” system gaining access to the young skulls full of mush while they’re as young and impressionable as possible.
Yessah.
I would like to see Cervone’s resources where he is getting his “facts.” I am a master level Special Educator and nothing in my graduate education ever led me to making the broad generalizations that he is making. Yes, we need to give our kids the best education – BUT – the facts are very clear that many kids are not socially or developmentally ready for public school at 4 years old. Psychologically, these children suffer separation anxiety which can develop into behavioral disorders that are misdiagnosed as learning disorders because ill equipped general educators don’t know how to deal with behavioral problems. I can see both sides of the coin here, and can say with all honesty and experience that many schools are opting for early enrollments under the guise of “child find” and early education to generate more money in their special education budgets for problems that wouldn’t exist if the parents and children were allowed to enroll at later ages. Special education budgets are then funneled into general budgets for targeted “in class” intervention programs. Is this the case for all schools? Nope. But I have worked in enough districts across two states and researched several districts in 6 states, and money does seem to be the “bottom line.” So are we really helping our children or are we doing a disservice by pushing them too hard and too fast? I can see parents liking free preschool, but then again, I see these same parents two and three years later wondering why their kids aren’t doing well in kindergarten and first grade. The concept of “in loco parentis” or letting the teachers raise the kids is causing too many of the societal problems that Cervone alludes to. The real “unasked” question is, “why are the school populations declining?” Many parents are pulling their children from public schools because they are not satisfied with the level of education their children are getting. The “one stop, fits all” curriculum design [Open Court Reading, Trailblazers, Everyday Math, etc.] that many schools adopt (for budgetary reasons) isn’t working for many kids who learn in multiple domains. For this reason, a majority of parents choose to home school, some enroll their children in private schools, and yet others are using internet based public schools. Another prevalent issue is student safety. Many kids are being bullied by students, teachers, and administration. I pulled my daughter before she even finished the first grade because she was reading at a 3rd-4th grade level and according to the teacher, “it wasn’t fair to the other kids” that she could read materials so far above the class. She was also bullied by teachers and children (physically assaulted on at least two occasions) and the administration did nothing about it. It took me going to the Office of Civil Rights in Boston to get the school to admit they had a bullying problem. So, as Mr. Cervone spouts his unsupported “facts,” keep in mind that their are thousands of parents and teachers in Maine who can dispute his facts with vetted and credible information. And this IS the real reason why people are leaving public schools in droves. Stop gap measures of Pre K programs and early enrollment is not going to work until the real issues of public educational quality is addressed. I pay my taxes to a school district that my daughter can’t attend, simply because she is “too smart.” The school has no problem taking my $1800 of rural taxes every year, and I have to pay more money for her curriculum and also to the University of Maine for her part time tuition (she’s 11 years old with a 145 IQ) It is frustrating that there are no special programs for her or kids like her in our district – but I make sure to give her the very best I can since the district, “doesn’t have any resources (including gifted and talented) that can reach her at her level.” And this my friends, is why public school enrollment is declining. BDN should research their stories better and use credible resources rather than public figures who are so far removed from the classrooms and children.
From a mom I know…
“Jimmy* was forced to go the day he turned 4…. school principle came right to the house and shamed me into making him go
I
always thought it was too young, so in Aurora where there preK is
mostly 5 year olds…. they had to keep Jimmy back in first grade cause
of his age level”
Some good points. Though public school shouldn’t be completely cookie cutter, one size fits all, it also can’t be everything to everyone. Expectations shouldn’t be set to the lowest common denominator, though we have to be realistic.
Those in the minority (those ahead or behind the curve) should have options certainly. The most obvious that I know of – holding a struggling child back a grade or having gifted children skip grades. Did you pursue having your daughter skip a grade? If not, why?
You bring up good points about skipping grades. Emotionally, she wasn’t ready. Cognitively, she is leaps and bounds ahead. A smart 6 year old needed to be a six year old back then. She is 11 now and we respect her 11 “yearness” emotional age, but she is able to handle much more cognitively now. We work to have her socialized with her peers through Girl Scouts and youth activities – but she is much more capable now to operate in an enhanced 5th grade curriculum as well as freshman level classes to keep her challenged.
Another thing we tried was to have pull outs where she could read with higher grades in the day and return to her classmates after reading. This “wasn’t fair” (per the teacher at the time) either.
The Superintendent and I touch base every year, and he encourages me to enroll her in “any school of our choosing in the district” because she “could boost the test scores” and I ask him what the district has in place for exceptionally gifted students. The best response I have gotten is she can participate in a “gifted program for two hours a week.” As her mom, I know that this is not challenging enough for her.
Since I am a teacher, I have teacher friends and we meet every summer to
review and develop a special curriculum for her outside of the school
system. So we are doing the very best for her because the school system
failed her so badly.
I even offered to volunteer at the school as a GT teacher for her and other kids (donating $84,000 of salaries and benefits – don’t forget I can do educational and psychological testing as well) and was told that it wouldn’t work because of the teacher’s union. So really… where is the priority of the school system if they turn down a free teacher for 10 years? I would have gladly given the district $840,000 of my services to ensure my daughter had a good education.
Classic no-win scenario. Thanks, unions! (And I used to be an MEA representative).
Thanks for the reply. Bottom line – whether one is in a good or bad school system, supplementation of education at home and quality parenting is always going to make a huge difference. As you’ve said, one should never expect schools to be able to do it all, even if they could. It has to be a partnership.
You should do an education feature for the BDN. You hit all the right stuff. This particular issue is all about money as you stated. I would address the volunteer issue again. If you are providing a service that is of no cost to anyone how can anyone in their right mind turn that down. I would welcome you with open arms and go to arbitration. Have a nice day. :)
I wish we listened to people like you more often, but our society tunes out the people who might actually be able to fix things.
In our case, our son has at least sixty years of getting up and going somewhere to look forward to; we’re giving him one last year of just chillaxing before the daily Grind begins.
You are absolutely correct. Just as the “Head start” program failed, so will this. We have become just like Russia with parents dropping their babies off to be educated by the government. It is indoctrination. They want your kids early so they can indoctrinate them. It is pathetic. Parents need to take responsibility for their own kids. They are too willing to give them to the government. Then they wonder where they went wrong.
It is true that our GT population is seriously under-served in some districts. And who are our future doctors and engineers going to be? However, it is also true that rural populations are falling because the families just aren’t having as many kids. They go where the jobs are.
IQ is BS. Mine was in the low 70s Indoctrination of education. Yes kids show some gains going to Pre K but most is lost within a few years. Schools are just a reflection of society . Yes your child may be doing well compared to other kids. Mostly because you are well educated and advocate for your child.
I’ve got a great idea. Why not just give these children to the State the moment they are born. Then we won’t have to reprogram them when they are five.
Why not just force poor people to have abortions and cut out the need to ‘reprogram’
You really are sick
Hopefully you’re not just figuring this out now. ;)
Anyone ever read Curriculum 21? It is a blueprint of how to incorporate Agenda 21 models and UN guidelines into public schools. I do believe it was mandatory reading for many school districts and inservices in Maine around 2008 – and teachers who didn’t agree with it were non-renewed so the superintendents could keep a “top down” management approach. So this idea of getting kids enrolled earlier fits this approach.
———
Didn’t our governor just cut funds for education? So the schools have to do more, with less money? Sure. That otta work.
Read my posts above… I offered to teach for free in a public school to fill a gap and they refused because of their teacher’s union. Schools can do very well with the budgets they have – it is the administrators who need to become more creative thinkers rather than financial parasites.
True.
Exactly! All these schools are going to add Pre-K programs because the funding is there today. Create programs and factor the funds into their annual budgets and then in one, two years the State/Fed is going to discontinue the funds and the schools are going to be scrabbling to find money. They find the money by raising our taxes. So now instead of the Smith family paying for their own daycare, we will ALL being sharing the cost of the Smiths’ family “daycare”. Pre-K is not the answer.
Chasing federal dollars at every turn does nothing but expand the modern form of Slavery Lincoln envisioned
Just curious Jack, since you bring up Lincoln – are you a fan? He wasn’t exactly a constitutional stickler and obviously set many executive precedents that have yet to have been reversed. I’m willing to Grant him (heh sorry) that the pros of his actions outweighed the cons, though there was a lot of ugliness in the Lincoln years.
I work in this field, and am absolutely puzzled by this article’s omission of what is clearly the biggest reason for schools adding Pre-K: parents have been pushing school districts for it, so that they can get three or four hours without having to child-mind or pay a babysitter. (This is especially true of single parents, and especially especially true of single working parents).
Why would they mention that?
Then they would actually be admitting that this is NOT about the kids at all. It’s about irresponsible parents who are looking to get out of a cost or time committment to their child coupled with a failing education system that is short on cash and will do anything to keep teachers at work, regardless if they are not even needed with today’s low enrollment numbers.
it’s disgusting….it’s the corrupt public redistribution system feeding on itself and commiting outright abuse on innocent young children
the government wants to increase the time they have to teach ( read brainwash ) our children from age 5 to 16. when will the citizens of this country realize that our government needs to be controlled? bigger more powerful government is no common mans friend. they are looking out for themselves
That is probably true in some cases.
Of course because it is FREE. Daycare costs money. They save $150.00 +/- a week by sending their children to school. We can not fund another program to help those out who are having tough times. It is just moving the money from one side of the equation to the other.
Of course the writer of this article totally neglected to investigate as to just why student populations are dropping. Many parents, dissatisfied with the public schools, for many different reasons, have removed their children from public education. The numbers of home schoolers, and students in private schools, could easily be found, but then that would not make such a liberally slanted story, which is what was desired here!
In other places, like along the coast, numbers have dropped because the policies of the State of Maine have made the taxes unnaffordable for young people with children and thus former “working towns” have become havens for McMansions for the wealthy implants who have paid exorbitant sums for shore front property.
Working people were “forced” by Maine tax policies, to sell their property and leave, a much bigger problem than dropping government school numbers.
The kids are not there, as the jobs are not. That’s why enrollments are down.
Pre-K is perfect for those little ones who just miss the cutoff date for Kindergarten because of their birthdays. However, it should be left up to the parent whether or not to send them.
At a time when we have to cut back on gov’mint spending this is a great idea to strap the system even more .We are all doomed.If you can’t take care of your kid till they are five stop having freakin kids.
So, let’s see – who buys the disposable diapers? Oh, yes, the same people who raised their own children and worked for a living.
And the added expense of free school breakfast and lunch. Even if it’s subsidized, that’s coming from the budget everyone promises to cut.
I am sure by the time our Incompetent Governor is retired the 4 year old programs will be a thing of the past.
Glorified day care
I have to ask if the subsidies will also cover the added expense of school bus rides? If not, what is the expense to the community?