Liaison Description

In September 2006, NSBA’S Center for Public Education received a $448,000 grant from the PEW Charitable Trusts to implement an initiative to engage local boards of education in the effort to positively impact student achievement through accessible and affordable quality Pre-K programs.

NSBA strategically chose Ohio, Texas and Kansas to participate. The OSBA team is comprised of Scott Ebright, Maryse Gonzalez, Kathy LaSota andDonna Williams. Since the notification of our involvement, we have been going about the task of familiarizing ourselves with the pre-K environment in Ohio. In November 2006 we met with colleagues from Texas and Kansas in Washington D.C. for the roll-out of the two-year initiative and completion of each state's draft plan.

The Pew Team has been busy following their draft plan for 2007. We have participated in monthly conference calls with the grant leadership from NSBA and with our counterparts from Kansas and Texas. Articles about universal access to quality pre-K programs have been published in the Journal in March and April.

In February, Donna Williams participated in a workshop focusing on pre-K. David Howard, field director for the Ohio Early Care and Education campaign, spoke about the federal and state push for pre-K. Representatives from Hamilton County ESC and Warren City attended and highlighted their successes and difficulties they currently face with their pre-K district programs.

Governor Strickland, Ohio’s new governor, has given us his commitment to provide every child a fair start through access to high-quality early care and education. In his first budget proposal, he would open state-funded early learning programs to children in families earning up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The governor’s proposal still calls for use of federal welfare money; however, the administration has a plan to avoid some of the restrictions. They will continue to provide $125.3 million in both FY 08 and FY 09 for the Early Learning Initiative program with a goal of increasing the number of children served to 12,000 in each fiscal year. In addition, Strickland proposed using state funds to expand Ohio’s public preschool program by $22.5 million over the next two years. Currently, about 3,800 Ohio children attend public preschool. The expansion would increase enrollment by 2,446 children in the next two years. The executive budget also increases the appropriation for all-day kindergarten. He is establishing an “Early Childhood Cabinet” composed of a representatives from the Ohio departments of job and family services; education; health; mental health; and alcohol and drug addiction services. The Pew Team met with the OSBA Legislative Division in April to discuss the governor’s proposal and how they may assist us in advocating for the governor’s pre-K budget proposals and inform our team of any changes throughout the budget process.

Our Pew Team has just completed a survey of 227 school board members across our state. A random sample of school board members were called and asked a series of 13 questions. The questions ranged from the way pre-K programs in their districts and geographical area are funded, what constitutes a high quality pre-K program, the greatest benefits of having preschool in your district, to how can OSBA help you on this issue.

There is a wide variety of funding mechanisms in our state, but the most popular are provided by the local school district and federal and/or state grants. We asked the question is a pre-kindergarten program a necessary part of every Ohio child’s education? 59% felt it is a necessary part. The 59% that believe pre-k is necessary, say the following factors contribute to a quality preschool education.

When asked which ONE education venture should be the most important, Pre-k came in fifth out of eight responses. Many of the responses we received pointed out the importance of Pre-K, yet when combined with the other issues, such as funding, those issues take precedence. We were pleased to find out that:

The last question on the survey asked how OSBA could help your district on this issue. The strongest response, 68% would like us to advocate for federal funds to implement and expand preschool programs.

The purpose for the survey was to find out the perceptions among school board members of our state. We will repeat the survey with those same school board members in 18 months and see, if through our pre-K awareness strategies, if any of those perceptions have changed. A story on the survey will be published in the May Journal

Marcella Gonzalez and Kathy LaSota represented the Pew Team in April at the NSBA conference held in San Francisco. We presented, along with Patte Barth, director for the Center for Public Education; Chrisanne Gayl, director, Federal Programs, NSBA and state association representatives from Kansas and Texas at a breakout session “Thinking P-12: Engaging school board members in support of pre-K” on Monday afternoon.

Scott Ebright and Kathy LaSota will be representing the team at the Kansas Association Pew meeting June 10-11 in Kansas City.

Scott Ebright and Kathy LaSota represented our association at the Kansas meeting and came back to Ohio with a better understanding of the keys to a successful pre-k program.

The following suggestions will also be included in the August edition of the SALT Resource Kit to be mailed to all Ohio school board members.

If you are planning to expand your pre-k program to include all children on a voluntary basis, consider the following essential tips:

Know the research. Making the case for voluntary quality pre-k programs is easy once people see the facts.
Build public awareness about the qualities of a good pre-k program and how pre-k experiences can improve k-12 success.
Continued to invest in high-quality elementary and secondary education.
Research successful models.
Leverage current funding streams and explore creative funding possibilities, including endowments, foundations and scholarship programs.
Work closely with providers of pre-k in your community. Parents want options when choosing a provider to care for and educate their young children.
Form effective coalitions. Identify and work with early childhood supporters at your local and state education agencies; the business community; local colleges and universities and local and state policy makers.
Use OSBA as a resource.

Our PEW Team members will be sharing more information on this topic over the next several months. And, if your district operates a pre-k program that is open to all children, or if you would like to serve as an advocate for pre-k education, please contact OSBA.

For more information about the PEW initiative or pre-k education nationally and in Ohio, call OSBA or continue to visit our website or visit www.nsba.org/publicedcenterforpubliced@nsba.org

This summer marked a turning point in federal policymakers' support for pre-k. Congress is clearly reacting to the progress made by the states in providing voluntary pre-k programs, and key lawmakers have proposed several thoughtful, research-based bills to help states achieve high-quality pre-k for all families that want it.

As Congress embarks on a busy fall schedule, here are some of the major issues Pre-K Now is tracking:

The House and Senate are expected to conference soon on their different versions of the long-delayed Head Start bill, which includes a crucial funding increase and new provisions to raise teacher quality and child eligibility in Head Start programs.
The House and Senate education committees have added language to the Higher Education Act that would improve pre-k teachers' access to federal student aid. Conferees will meet to work out differences between the House and Senate versions after the House passes its equivalent of the Senate reauthorization bill.

The chairs of the House and Senate education committees - Rep. George Miller and Sen. Edward Kennedy, respectively - have expressed interest in supporting early education through the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Pre-K Now is working with pre-k bill sponsors and their staffs to see that the proposed federal investment in pre-k is part of NCLB going forward.

A panel discussion on education was held in Findley on Wednesday, October 10th. About 50 education, business and community leaders from Hancock, Allen, Auglaize, Mercer, Seneca and Wood counties took part in an education foprum sponsored by the Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation. OSBA President, Martha Rothey spoke about the importance of education starting with prekindergarten. "I believe that our county needs to think of education not K through 12, but prekindergarten," she said. "We need to assume that every child will have an adquate, challenging preschool experience all the way through to an expectation that they will have postsecondary education." Wednesday's forum was an outgrowth of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum's statewide conference. Other similar forums will be held around the state.

A task force convened by The Pew Charitable Trusts and other organizations has provided important recommendations for creating state accountability systems that link early education with the primary grades.

The National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force released a report, Taking Stock: Assessing and Improving Early Childhood Learning and Program Quality, that examines issues such as system infrastructure, including data and accurate reporting; and makes recommendations for action at the federal, state and local levels.

An effective accountability and improvement system should have an infrastructure with at least four core components:

The task force also designed four approaches that states can use to collect data and report on program performance and childrens learning gains. As a result, states can customize an accountability system based on particular needs. One basic methodology would provide information for a state that wants to know how many children are ready for kindergarten. Other, more complex options would assess the quality of local programs and offer a framework to evaluate the effective-ness of specific types of investments.

Others on the task force include the Foundation for Child Development and the Joyce Foundation.

In a "call to action," the report recommends that governors and state legislators invest in high-quality programs and a strong accountability and improvement system. States should develop a strategic plan that promotes accountability, supports local partnerships and works toward a "robust, positive and rigorous culture" for early childhood accountability.

For its part, the federal government should promote efforts to link data among child care, Head Start and early childhood special education programs. And local agencies should provide opportunities for teachers and managers to discuss child and program assessments and to use data to improve childrens learning. Visit: www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_ektid30962.aspx.

More 4-year-olds are attending preschool compared with 15 years ago, says a new study that finds increases among ethnic groups and tracks participation by U.S. region.

Who Goes to Preschool and Why Does it Matter? is a new report from the National Institute for Early Education Research that compares preschool enrollment from 1991 to 2005. Overall, 69 percent of 4-year-olds participated in these programs in 2005, up from 59 percent in 1991. Moreover, participation among African American and Hispanic 4-year-olds increased during the period.

The Northeast had the highest participation rate in 2005, with 77 percent of 4-year-olds attending preschool programs. This rate is up from 63 percent in 1991. Other rates were 71 percent in the South, 66 percent in the Midwest and 64 percent in the West. All areas but the Midwest experienced increases since the early 1990s.

The study also found that participation increased at the same rate for children regardless of whether their mothers worked outside the home. As a result, NIEER said, it is increasingly clear that many parents send their children to pre-k for its educational benefits, not just to meet child care needs.

Looking to the future, the study recommended expansion of programs beyond the targeting of low-income children to increase access for middle-income families, researchers said. Contact: NIEER, www.nieer.org.