Posted on: Sunday, September 19, 2004

EDITORIAL
Pre-kindergarten must be for all Hawai'i's kids

On the front page of today's Focus section is an article excerpted from a recent speech here by David Lawrence, a former newspaper publisher and today an evangelist for what is known as "UPK" or universal pre-kindergarten.

The article is well worth reading, and the concept is one that is vitally important to the entire state as we struggle to bring our educational system to first-class standards.

There is endless community discussion about the quality, or lack of it, in our public schools. There is almost as much discussion of our higher education system: How can we create a world-class university with world-class students and faculty?

Begin at the beginning

What lies at the heart of the "UPK" movement is the idea that no school, no university can succeed if it does not draw in students ready to learn and succeed.

And where does one get such students? It begins, advocates say, at the beginning. If youngsters do not enter school (today, almost universally, this is kindergarten) ready to learn, they are already behind and almost never will catch up.

The social science evidence is convincing. Children who have had a quality preschool experience almost inevitably do better once they enter school.

And success follows them through the years. Those who enter ready to learn leave high school with a better education and are better prepared for college.

This is the lesson taught by Head Start, which is a federally funded program for youngsters from lower income groups. Head Start children are almost universally more successful in school than children from similar circumstances who did not take advantage of this program.

At the other end of the spectrum, families who can afford quality pre-kindergarten (pre-school) experiences for their children are setting the stage for success later on.

So, what Lawrence and others like him argue is that a quality pre-kindergarten experience should be the right of every child, regardless of family income.

Sounds good, but who is going to pay for it? In Hawai'i, start-up costs for a universal pre-K program would be in the range of $65 million and there would be ongoing costs going forward.

Today, slightly more than half of low-income children receive preschool subsidies while the overall state early childhood education budget is stagnant at around $3 million annually.

The ambitious Pre-Plus program launched during the administration of former Gov. Ben Cayetano is in place but has not expanded because of both fiscal and physical limitations.

A "P-20" initiative also is in place, trying to make the connection between success in the earliest years of education (pre-kindergarten) through the final years of college (Year 20).

This initiative has set the stage for an integrated educational system, but it is far from being the seamless, well-funded and well-organized program its supporters dream of.

In some ways, the major obstacle is a failure of imagination. Preschool, or pre-kindergarten, is too often viewed as a human service or welfare program rather than as a critical first step in the education system.

In other words, a nice-to-have, but not necessarily a need-to-have program for the entire state.

That thinking will change. It wasn't that long ago when the idea of universal kindergarten (in which Hawai'i is a leader) was thought of as some sort of utopian ideal. Today, most parents take state-sponsored kindergarten as a right.

The day is not far off when universal pre-kindergarten will be viewed in the same light: As a necessary and indeed crucial part of the total education system.

Long-run thinking

Creating such a system involves daunting challenges. Far from the least of them is money. Yes, such a system is expensive. But the public costs of dealing with young people who fail to succeed in school are incalculable and clearly greater than the price-tag on universal preschool.

Universal preschool would also present logistical problems, as we have already learned with our Pre-Plus experiment.

How does one successfully blend the patchwork of federally funded low-income pre-schools, private not-for-profit and for-profit schools and public pre-kindergartens?

It won't be easy, but the choice seems obvious. The time to launch Hawai'i toward a progressive universal pre-kindergarten system is now.

There is no time to waste.