Bill could make preschool available to all

Marisa O’Neil

A bill before the Assembly could set the stage for universally

available preschool here and throughout California.

The school readiness bill that passed out of an appropriations

committee on Wednesday would require the state Department of

Education to award grants to districts for neighborhood school

readiness centers. Neediest areas would receive priority funding.

It will be tacked on with other education bills to the California

Master Plan for Education. The plan is being designed by the state to

provide a universal educational guideline.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has three state

preschools available for families who meet low-income qualifications.

Many private preschools also operate locally for those who can afford

tuition, but Assembly Bill 56 would provide access for every child.

“The idea is to build a first-class preschool system where every

parent can send their child to preschool,” said Gary Davis,

legislative director for 9th District Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg,

the bill’s author.

In Newport-Mesa’s three state preschools -- Harper, Wilson and

Whittier -- 432 children get preparation for kindergarten, district

spokeswoman Jane Garland said. She estimates that, districtwide,

1,600 new kindergarteners start school each year.

Recent studies have shown that sending children to preschool

better prepares them for kindergarten and the rest of their

educational careers, said UC Irvine associate dean Virginia Mann, an

early childhood education expert.

“Preschool is very important,” Mann said. “Anything that makes it

more accessible will help in school success.”

Children learn language, math and socialization skills that they

may miss out on at home, and trained teachers can identify learning

difficulties early, she said.

The bill specifies that schools that rank in the bottom three

deciles of the previous year’s Academic Performance Index -- the

statewide school accountability system -- have priority for the early

learning center preschools. Locally, Pomona, Rea, Whittier and Wilson

elementary schools would qualify based on last year’s scores, said

Peggy Anatol, director of curriculum and assessment for the district.

Originally, the bill included language that would have made

kindergarten mandatory for children once they turned 5, but Davis

said that was dropped Tuesday. Currently, parents can enroll children

in kindergarten if they turn 5 by Dec. 2 of the school year or wait

until the next year.

It would also have mandated full-day kindergarten, which only two

Newport-Mesa schools -- Whittier and Newport Coast -- have.

“I certainly think full-day kindergarten is what we’d like to see

at all schools,” Garland said. “But it depends on space. Some would

need another teacher or room, but we would like to go to that.”

Right now, each school determines its kindergarten hours, she

said. Some operate on a split schedule, and others have an “early

bird-late owl” structure that splits the class in half with some

overlapping lessons in the middle of the day.

Those plans allow multiple classes to share one room and teacher.

Having a full day at every school would mean hiring more teachers and

creating more classroom space.