Truth test on Gov. Polis’ statements about full-day preschool

Hundreds of Colorado households believed their 4-year-olds would get tuition-free full-day preschool by Colorado’s new common preschool program. In July, they discovered it wasn’t true. 

The state didn’t have the funds for for each baby from a low-income household or with one other threat issue to get full-day lessons. As an alternative, solely a fraction of them — these with low-income standing and a second threat issue — would get the longer faculty day for free of charge to their households. The remaining needed to provide you with the additional tuition cash themselves, drop right down to a half-day program, or bow out altogether. 

It was a blow to households, but in addition a blow to the $330 million common preschool program that Gov. Jared Polis has made a signature precedence of his tenure. For months, critics have charged that this system’s rollout has been rushed, messy, and complicated. 

In a latest interview with 9News reporter Marshall Zelinger, Polis tried to elucidate why some kids with threat components wouldn’t get the 30 hours per week their households thought they had been promised. 

He supplied a wide range of solutions: There’s not sufficient area. Households searching for full-day lessons simply need baby care. Half-day preschool is best for youths. 

So, what’s true? 

Chalkbeat fact-checked among the claims Polis made about common preschool. Right here’s what we discovered. 

Is there sufficient area?

What Gov. Polis mentioned: “There’s nothing even near the area for full-day preschool.”

Truth test: That is partially true, however deceptive. There are greater than 24,000 full-day seats provided by Colorado’s common preschool suppliers this yr, in keeping with April numbers from the state’s Division of Early Childhood. That’s greater than sufficient for the greater than 14,000 4-year-olds who’ve at the least one threat issue and whose households had been initially informed their kids could be eligible for tuition-free full-day lessons.

The explanation a lot of these 14,000 kids usually are not being provided full-day preschool as their households anticipated is as a result of the state doesn’t have the funds for, not as a result of it doesn’t have sufficient area. In some instances, full-day lessons could also be unavailable in a selected preschool or group, however on a statewide foundation there are full-day seats accessible. 

Polis is appropriate that there’s not sufficient bodily area for full-day preschool for each 4-year-old who will take part within the common program this yr — greater than 30,000 children — however that was by no means the plan to start with.

Baby care vs. preschool

What Gov. Polis mentioned: “Are you saying you need to decide your child up at 2:30? Or 5, proper? If they are saying 2:30, then they’re in it for the full-day preschool as a result of they worth that educational expertise. In the event that they’re saying 5, as a result of I work and I can’t decide up my child till 5, they want a baby care resolution.”

Truth test: That is deceptive. Polis’ feedback counsel that folks wished one thing out of common preschool that wasn’t being provided, specifically baby care. However the state has lengthy deliberate to supply full-day preschool hours to some households, clearly stating that within the utility and different messaging. In some instances, the Colorado Division of Early Childhood, which is operating the brand new program, even used the phrase “care” to explain the additional hours of preschool. (On Fb, for instance.) 

Lastly, giving kids educationally enriching experiences and supervising them whereas dad and mom work aren’t mutually unique. It’s additionally price noting that preschool school rooms, like toddler and toddler school rooms, are ruled by state baby care guidelines — so in that sense, preschool is baby care.

Is half-day preschool greatest?

What Gov. Polis mentioned: “It is a half-day common preschool program. That’s what the voters authorized. It’s additionally developmentally acceptable. Children profit essentially the most in that 15-to-20-hour vary.” 

Truth test: Not essentially. A 2019 experimental examine of preschoolers within the Westminster district north of Denver discovered that full-day college students outperformed half-day college students in early literacy, math, bodily, and socioemotional improvement. Full-day college students attended for 30 hours per week and half-day college students attended for 12 hours per week. 

The examine was significantly notable as a result of it used gold-standard methodology, with college students randomly assigned to full-day or half-day lessons. The authors, together with Allison Atteberry, who was then on the College of Colorado Boulder, concluded that the examine supplied compelling proof “{that a} full-day, full-week preschool helps younger kids’s improvement, at the least amongst a pattern of primarily low-income, Latinx kids.”

Is common preschool high-quality?

What Gov. Polis mentioned: “We’re funding high-quality preschool.”

Truth test: This isn’t true. Whereas many collaborating preschools could provide high-caliber programming, state officers usually are not requiring suppliers to satisfy any explicit high quality requirements throughout this system’s first yr. All suppliers should meet primary well being and security requirements, however these have lengthy been essential to get a state baby care license. The state informed suppliers in April to “preserve doing what you’re doing,” and mentioned guidelines on high quality might be added for the 2024-25 faculty yr. 

Specialists say preschool can produce short- and long-term advantages for youths, however provided that it’s prime quality. Class-size limits, workers credentials, trainer coaching necessities, and curriculum alternative are sometimes among the many standards used to measure preschool high quality. 

The common preschool program has already backed away from class-size guidelines utilized in Colorado’s earlier focused preschool program, which was for college students with threat components. The focused program, which led to June, capped class sizes at 16 kids, whereas the common preschool program will permit lessons of as much as 24. 

Elementary college students get the identical hours. Ought to preschoolers?

What Gov. Polis mentioned: “I view preschool very like I view first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade. We don’t give extra fourth grade hours to low-income households.”

Truth test: That is deceptive. It might be true that fourth graders from low-income households don’t get additional hours of faculty, however they already get six or seven hours of sophistication a day. 

For the reason that inception of Colorado’s common preschool program, state leaders have talked about giving college students with the very best wants extra preschool to assist them prepare for kindergarten. The 2020 legislation creating common preschool says to make sure fairness, the state “should” put money into additional preschool for youngsters in low-income households. As particulars of the brand new program unfolded final yr, state officers spelled out what that extra programming would entail: 15 additional hours per week, for a complete of 30. 

Colorado has lengthy made some extent to supply additional assist to kids who face obstacles to instructional success — offering additional funding to their colleges or direct assist to their households. The truth is, till the common preschool program launched this month, Colorado’s publicly funded preschool program focused solely college students from low-income households or who had different threat components. In brief, the state acknowledges that some children want extra assist than others and routinely crafts coverage based mostly on that distinction. 

Letter informing dad and mom their kids gained’t get tuition-free full-day preschool

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, masking early childhood points and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.