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Saturday, July 16, 2005

Pre-K Stretching Tax Dollars

By Diane D. Denish
Lieutenant Governor
    Since the end of this past legislative session, the phone calls from pre-kindergarten providers, teachers and especially parents have been non-stop. So what's the fuss?
    Studies show that half of the test-score gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children begins before children ever enter kindergarten. The same studies show that early learning is a key means of closing the achievement gap. But more to the point, parents want what's best for their kids. And pre-K represents an opportunity to assure that their little ones will arrive at school ready to learn.
    Last week the Journal ran a story with the headline: "Pre-K Funding is Bare Bones." By looking at the demand we received, I couldn't agree more.
    The demand for pre-kindergarten has been stunning. Forty-six school districts, private and nonprofit pre-kindergarten providers from across New Mexico submitted proposals to access $5 million to start or expand existing programs. Bidders submitted proposals to provide pre-kindergarten to nearly 2,500 New Mexico 4-year-olds and asked for $6.5 million in pre-K funding.
    Also, several potential bidders told us they wanted to apply but didn't either because they didn't feel they were ready to implement a program or because they felt there wasn't enough funding statewide to justify an application.
    Three weeks ago, we selected 30 programs in 53 locations statewide. Through these programs we will provide more than 1,500 New Mexico children with high-quality pre-kindergarten for the first time.
    We will now work to expand pre-K and fill in the gaps so that more of New Mexico's 4-year-olds are served.
    There will be more than 24,600 children entering kindergarten in the fall, but about 13,000 will not have had access to a pre-K program. Federal funding for early education, as the Journal's story notes, may continue to shrink and leave the burden on states to pick up the mantle or watch the achievement gap become a chasm.
    This last session, the Legislature whittled our $9 million request to $5 million and challenged us to build a strong program, demonstrate a demand and do the most with the minimum. I'm proud to say that in less than three months, the state has moved quickly: developing and implementing a fair request-for-proposal process; reviewing dozens of applications from a diverse set of providers; building a system of accountability that will measure individual and developmentally appropriate growth, creating programmatic goals and expectations to match each providers' proposal; designing fiscal accountability that assures the monitoring of each providers' contract; and committing $1 million of the $5 million for professional development and staff support so pre-K teachers can gain vital skills.
    As for the demand, it is real. From now until the next legislative session, the phones will keep ringing. Parents from our small towns and cities will continue to ask for the opportunity to place their child in a quality pre-K program.
    And Gov. Bill Richardson and I will continue to fight for more funding so that we can offer this great voluntary opportunity to more of New Mexico's children.