Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

The Next Battle Royale

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine wants to add another $300 million to out-of-control spending on K-12 education by creating a universal pre-school program for four-year-olds. He has appointed a Strong Start Pre-K Council to oversee development of the programs. (See the Richmond Times-Dispatch story here.)

Kaine appears to be willing to invest significant political capital into launching this program. Predictably, he will generate a lot of opposition. Writing for the Bacon’s Rebellion e-zine late last year, Chris Braunlich evinced skepticism in his column, “Does ‘Universal Pre-K’ Work?” Today, the Times-Dispatch editorial page sounded similar themes.

Color me skeptical — but open to persuasion. We have eight months until the next General Assembly session. Both sides cite social scientific research in support of their arguments. There’s no excuse for not giving that research a thorough airing.

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16 responses to “The Next Battle Royale”

  1. kingfish Avatar
    kingfish

    I think this was part of what Kaine campaigned on.

  2. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    Kingfish, Sure, Kaine did campaign on this. And he was smart enough not to let it get overshadowed by the transportation debate. But it looks like he’s gearing up now to make it a big issue in the 2007 session.

  3. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    Speaking of research,how about a little history? First,the editorial comment that we fool ourselves if we think we are wiser than the generations that went before us. We know more, much more , about science and technology, but not about human nature.

    Go back as far as the Greek and Roman civilizations. No one separated a child from the Mother for training or education until age 5 or 6. Not even the Spartans.

    Only modern folks are so foolish. I think only modern Israeli’s may have taken 3 year olds away from Mom – in the kibbutzim – don’t know if they do it now. I may be wrong about this. Dunno what age the Soviet, Chinese or other Commie Farm and Factory Collectives took kids from Mother.

    Today, our research, based on science and technology, should show why it such a bad idea – for the children.

    FYI, my wife is counselor in government schools, K-5, and she strongly counsels against this government pre-K idea.

    At a later time I will add the political reasons why it is a bad idea. But, for now, just for the children, it should be a big “no-no”.

  4. kingfish Avatar
    kingfish

    There’s much to learn about this proposal before I could say whether I am for it or against it. Is it mandantory? If so, I am against it. But if it is optional and available for those who wish to avail themselves of it, maybe it would be good. It might be a great benefit for working mothers for example. The ancient Greeks and Romans had stay at home Moms, increasingly rare in 21st century America.

  5. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Is this really anything more than free day care provided by the state? If so, what makes the program different than current day care programs?

    What are people that own day care centers supposed to do? Set back and let the state basically provide the same service for free?

    The devil, as usual, will be in the details.

  6. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    A couple of assumptions out there are flawed.

    One – from what I have seen, Gov. Kaine is not necessarily proposing a government-only program, but one that has room for private programs and faith-based organizations. Those of you who support vouchers and school choice should applaud this. Gov. Warner’s proposal likewise supported this kind of choice.

    Two – for those parents who have the means to send their kids to pre-school, I have not seen any proposal from the Governor that would supplant this.

    Three – there is compelling scientific evidence that a child’s brain is largely hard-wired before she reaches Kindergarten. In other words, her ability to learn is significantly formed in the pre-K years. Now, I cannot say that this science is irrefutable, but it is strong and peer-reviewed and for those children of means who have had pre-K paid for by parents, at a minimum there is no evidence that they have been harmed.

    Four – for the parents of those kids who do not have the means to send them to pre-K, are we not doing them and ourselves a favor in the long run by doing what we can to ensure they have the opportunity to succeed in school and in life?

    Five – other nations are way, way ahead of us on this. It is essential to our global competitiveness to ensure our people have the opportunity to obtain skills to compete.

    This is all about opportunity, and not entitlement. It’s a very mainstream idea.

  7. Charles Avatar
    Charles

    I wrote a somewhat-researched opinion piece on his plan last october, which can be found here: Universal preschool will come at the expense of private schools and daycare

    The summary: once universal preschool exists, it will drive private and especially church-run preschools largely out of the picture, because the schools will argue that public money shouldn’t go to the “priviledged few in private daycare”.

    And his proposal will only cost 300 million if you assume all those currently PAYING to send their kids somewhere will continue to do so, something unlikely when they are given a free alternative.

    It’s like the Red Cross representative said to me when I asked her why they didn’t open some “pay” blood drives to get the people who won’t do it for free. Her response? As soon as you pay someone, everybody donating will want to be paid, so your costs outweigh the benefits.

  8. RedBull Avatar
    RedBull

    Charles:

    I read your op-ed – good piece.

    It sounds like what will eventually happen if this passes is that public schools will now have 2 years of Kindergarten as opposed to one year, correct? They can call it whatever they want and the kids can receive the education wherever they want but that’s basically what’s happening.

    The law requires that a child must be enrolled in school by a certain age. That said, the other alternative for Gov. Kaine would be to lower the age at which a child must be enrolled in public school.

    He could avoid a lot of the problems that other states are running into and still achieve his goal(s) if you ask me.

  9. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    Anon: Define hard-wired.

    If hard wiring is about relationships and nurturing, then the State is way down on the list of care-givers if you make the gross assumption that Mom is unavailable or wrong for her own child.

    What is the SOL for pre-K that is so important for life long learning? The alphabet? Numbers to 20? Colors? Animals? Basic pronouns and noun-verb agreement? Name what must be learned and isn’t – supposedly.

    The idea of all day Kindergarten is a mistake today. It is day care dressed up as education.

    The failures that come with our successes in government education come during K-12, not predestined by pre-K.

  10. anon 10:08 Avatar
    anon 10:08

    “Hard-wired” means that much of the brain’s development as a learning organ occurs before a child reaches the age of six. Language skills, cognitive function, etc., all the building blocks of learning.

    The only opposition to such programs has come from religious and other conservatives who have concerns about family privacy, and from those who do not trust the government to spend wisely. And, some of the private pre-schools don’t want competition.

    I value family privacy and agree government is not always (rarely?) efficient. But as Jim suggested, there may be a way to address both major concerns and still provide these kids with the opportunity to succeed. It’s an important debate.

    Again, both Govs. Warner and Kaine have stated that there is a continuing role for private/religious groups. And there’s a lot of private-sector philanthropy lining up behind the initiative.

    Personally, I think home-schooling should be an option in this as well. The goal is to help the kids.

  11. anon 10:08 Avatar
    anon 10:08

    JAB, I would like to clarify my post a bit to say that “hard-wired” is not about the things kids learn — colors, ABCs, etc., as you mention — but the capacity of the brain itself to learn those things well and quickly depends on the kind of stimulation the child receives pre-K. Is that clearer?

  12. NOVA Scout Avatar
    NOVA Scout

    Jim: I very much liked and appreciated the way you teed this up. Hope this leads to a good discussion over the coming weeks and months.

  13. Toomanytaxes Avatar
    Toomanytaxes

    Ignoring the pros and cons of the proposal, I wonder how much of the $300 M would come from NoVA taxpayers and how little would come back to the same local jurisdictions. Mark Warner’s tax increase for education cost Fairfax County taxpayers around $108 M for 2005 (estimated by the Senate Finance Committee) and Fairfax County Public Schools received less than $14 M in new money (according to FCPS).

  14. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    Anon: If hard-wired is, as you define, the ability to learn, then what it takes to improve the ability to learn should be as explicit as the tasks one might need to master to be a kindergartener. Let’s see what it takes to improve the ‘hard-wiring’ for learning before we decide government schools or any schools outside the home are appropriate or needed.

    Years ago my youngest child went to German pre-K. They didn’t attempt to teach the children anything academic. They explained their job was to teach them to be German. How to line up, put stuff in your cubby, listen to teacher, learn about holidays, play together, etc.

    Curious to see more details, not educationalese, on what is ‘needed’ and intended in pre-K instruction.

  15. anon 10:08 Avatar
    anon 10:08

    JAB:

    For more reading on the topic from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, see this link: http://www.richmondfed.org/publications/economic_research/region_focus/fall_2005/cover.cfm

  16. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    Anon:Thanks for the link. This paragraph stood out in the paper.

    “It is tough to provide solid evidence about the effects of early education, says Chris Ruhm, an economics professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Ruhm is following about 9,500 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten cohort. He and his co-authors have written a paper that finds prekindergarten increases reading and math skills at school entry but also increases behavior problems and reduces self-control. Academic effects fade by first grade. What’s left, though, continues into third grade. Effects differ according to the children’s family background and what kinds of schools they enter later.”

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