Pre-K Program On Its way
Todd Silberman, News and Observer
November 23, 2001

More than a year after a Wake County judge ruled that North Carolina must provide pre-kindergarten classes for at-risk 4-year-olds, the first students are expected to begin attending school as early as January.

But before the children arrive, teachers need to be hired, classrooms found and academic plans put in place.

Communities across the state eager to pioneer the state's first publicly funded pre-kindergarten classes learned this week that they have just two weeks to apply for the initial round of money.

"I know just from parents calling, there are kids who are waiting," said Jean Brewer, director of the Smart Start early childhood program in Hoke County, which is already paying for several pre-kindergarten classes. "We're prepared to do it. We've been in the planning stages to expand."

Under Gov. Mike Easley's pre-kindergarten program, known as More at Four, about 15 local programs across the state will receive money to start classes this academic year. The legislature appropriated $ 6.5 million to launch the program, with 1,500 children expected to be served.

An estimated 40,000 4-year-olds in the state are considered at risk of failing later in school. Of those, 10,000 aren't enrolled in any kind of preschool program, and the balance attends programs that lack the quality thought necessary to give children a good foundation for kindergarten.

A number of factors are thought to put children at risk of school failure. They include low family income, chronic health problems or disabilities, minimal education levels of the mother or primary guardian, unemployment, lack of English proficiency and minority status.

The More at Four program is intended to make good on Easley's campaign promise to provide pre-kindergarten classes aimed at at-risk 4 year olds. Judge Howard Manning Jr., a Wake superior court judge hearing the state's long-running Leandro lawsuit over school funding, also issued a preliminary order just before the election that the state must provide pre-kindergarten classes.

The launch of the program was stalled by the legislature's long delay in passing the budget. Money for the More at Four program wasn't certain until late September.

Now, the government officials and education leaders who are spearheading the pre-kindergarten effort are trying to make up for lost time.

"We're going to get some programs up and running in January," said Carmen Hooker-Buell, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services. "This is an issue that is way too important to wait."

Nonetheless, recruitment halfway through the school year may present challenges, said Richard Clifford, director of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of a task force Easley appointed earlier this year to develop the More at Four program.

"The difficult part of implementing this is going to be reaching the unserved children," Clifford said. "Most kids' families have already figured out arrangements for this year. Many aren't going to want to change."

The mid-year start may also mean limited effect for children who are enrolled, he said.

"It's a step in the right direction," Clifford said, "but I'm not optimistic that we'll be able to show much child progress this year. It certainly won't hurt children. To see any big changes, we're going to need a whole year."

With applications for a first wave of funding due Dec. 7, and a second due in January, local communities are faced with little time to achieve the kind of broad-based community coordination demanded by the More at Four program. To qualify, all local proposals must include a joint partnership between the school superintendent of the county school system and the chairman of the local Smart Start agency, the state's early childhood program begun in the early 1990s.

Communities seeking the money must assemble a proposal that includes details on how students will be identified and recruited, what the program will look like, how parents will participate and what resources -- other than the state funds -- will be used to support the programs. A local contribution is required.

Places such as Hoke County, near Fayetteville, or Union County, near Charlotte, are expected to have an edge in the initial competition because of independent efforts they have already made to provide pre-kindergarten classes.

In Union County, the City of Monroe, the school system and the Smart Start office are working together to sponsor two pre-kindergarten classes in existing child-care centers in two churches. The city is paying the cost of one of the teachers; the school system is paying for the other. Smart Start has paid for equipment. Both teachers are supervised by the school system, which also provides the curriculum.

So far, 35 children are enrolled, but organizers hope to double that number with help from the More at Four program.

"We'd like to expand this so we're reaching kids who currently aren't being served," said Mary Ann Rasberry, executive director of the Union County Partnership for Children, the local Smart Start group. "I think it's doable because of what we already have in place. If we didn't have the cooperation we have now we couldn't do it."

Hoke County was already planning to expand the pre-kindergarten classes it has operated for the past few years with Smart Start funds but canceled those plans because of uncertainty over the state budget. Now the county is hoping to push ahead with its expansion, helped by More at Four. The Hoke school system is one of several in poor counties involved in the legal battle over funding adequacy.

Four of the county's seven elementary schools have one pre-kindergarten class each, and education leaders want classes in the remaining three elementary schools. Students assigned to those schools are left without programs to attend. About 40 to 50 students are on waiting lists.

"We have kids sitting out in districts who aren't being served," said Brewer, the Smart Start director. "It's better that we serve kids for six months than not at all."

Mitch Tyler, Hoke's school superintendent, also is a member of a task force Easley appointed earlier this year to develop the More at Four program. He said that the close collaboration that exists between Smart Start and the school system has been critical for the development and support of the preschool program.

"We pull together to provide for a need that we couldn't do ourselves," Tyler said. "These are the kids who are in the most need."

He said the expansion of the program is key for helping at-risk children overcome the barriers they face in a county where 60 percent to 70 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch because of low family income. Using that index, about 335 4-year-olds would qualify for pre-kindergarten. Only 72 are currently served.

"This is essential for Hoke County," Tyler said. "If we're going to make a difference for every child, it's important to build a strong foundation for them, before they walk into kindergarten."