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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Monday, May 16, 2005

State adds $5M to get more kids in preschool

 •  Chart: Preschool capacity

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

The Lingle administration will spend an additional $5 million each year to help low- and middle-income parents afford preschool for their children but, right now, there are not enough preschool slots available to handle the expected demand.

The money would cover new preschool subsidies for an estimated 1,000 children starting in July, yet there are only 415 vacancies at licensed preschools statewide.

Many preschools already are operating at capacity and have waiting lists of eager parents. Nevertheless, preschool advocates said they are thankful for the new money and predicted that preschools could quickly expand.

"It's a significant investment that has been made," said Douglas Mersberg, executive director of Wai'anae Coast Early Childhood Services. "There is certainly more potential. We currently have children on a waiting list."

Mersberg said preschools on the Wai'anae Coast are only meeting about half of the demand from parents. He said he recently helped dozens of parents apply for assistance through Open Doors, the state's preschool subsidy program.

Similar pressures can be found across O'ahu and on the Neighbor Islands.

More than half of 3- and 4-year-olds in Hawai'i attend preschool, a figure that educators want to increase. Children who do not go to preschool often find it more difficult to adjust to kindergarten, or start that grade behind other children.

"They can really struggle," said Lilinoe Wong, director of Punana Leo O Honolulu, a Hawaiian language immersion preschool. She said children who attend preschool are usually better able to fit in socially and academically at kindergarten. "I feel strongly that every child would benefit."

The Lingle administration will increase spending on Open Doors by $5 million — from $3.2 million to $8.2 million a year. More than 825 children now attend preschool through Open Doors subsidies, and the state Department of Human Services estimates that the new money will expand the program by 1,000 children.

"We're confident that they will be absorbed," Lillian Koller, the director of the Department of Human Services, said of the additional children.

The administration also will slightly expand the income eligibility limit for Open Doors — by about $3,000, or to about $47,000 for a family of three — so more middle-income parents might qualify.

The average tuition cost to send a child to preschool full-time is between $465 and $514 a month, depending on their age, according to PATCH, a childcare research and referral agency. Tuition for part-time preschool is between $385 and $414.

The administration also wants to use $20 million in federal welfare money to help low-income parents with preschool and childcare and to improve preschool quality. Only working parents would qualify for the federal money, which could be used for preschool or childcare and is intended to help people make the transition from welfare to work.

The administration had said earlier that the federal welfare money could help the state provide preschool or childcare to an additional 2,000 children.

"With this initiative, Gov. Lingle takes an important first step toward making quality early education available for all children," said Alex Harris, policy director for Good Beginnings Alliance, a group that is working toward universal preschool access.

Lingle and leading Democrats in the state Legislature said in January that they wanted to expand preschool access, but lawmakers took a more cautious tack during the session. Lawmakers approved a task force that will study preschool access and quality and report back to the Legislature before next session.

State Rep. Roy Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades), chairman of the House Education Committee, has wanted to give parents more information on preschool quality so they can choose preschools that concentrate more on education than daycare.

"They also have a capacity issue," Takumi said. "You just don't throw money out there and, wonder of wonders, there are these slots."

But Takumi and other lawmakers support giving low-income parents more help. State Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, D-13th (Kalihi, Nu'uanu), chairwoman of the Senate Human Services Committee, said she had wanted an even larger spending increase for Open Doors.

"I think it's wonderful," Chun Oakland said of the new money. "We'll be able to help more families."

The state subsidies are for low- and middle-income parents, but an expansion of preschool capacity could help parents at all income levels with what can be a trying search.

Stephanie James, a human-resources representative, had put her daughter on a preschool waiting list when she was 1 and expected that something would open up before she turned 2. But her daughter was not potty trained when the preschool had an opening, and by the time she was ready, the preschool had given her slot to another child.

James, who lives in Hawai'i Kai, had to start over from scratch, turning to friends and co-workers for advice before she found a preschool where she felt her daughter would be comfortable. She later tried another preschool closer to home, but found that her daughter, now 4, was better off at her first school.

"It can be very difficult," James said.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.

• • • 

PRESCHOOL CAPACITY

Licensed capacity Desired capacity Vacancies
O'ahu
13,873
12,972
261
Maui
1,835
1,757
33
Kaua'i
885
841
45
Lana'i
36
36
1
Moloka'i
117
117
8
West Hawai'i
1,079
1,004
31
East Hawai'i
1,447
1,333
36
Total
19,272
18,060
415

Source: People Attentive to Children