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EARLY EDUCATION POLICY

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California is working to ensure that all families who choose to enroll their children in preschool programs, have access to the high-quality early education programs that have been proven to cut crime and improve educational outcomes for children.

Research shows that quality preschool programs help reduce disruptive behavior, promote academic success, and reduce crime. While the state provides preschool subsidies for some low-income families, its subsidy programs are so under-funded that most eligible children are denied assistance. Three out of four publicly-funded preschools surveyed in California have waiting lists, forcing them to turn away tens of thousands of 3- to 5-year-olds from families who cannot afford to pay for preschool on their own. In addition, the state needs to do more to improve the effectiveness of preschool programs. Research found that only one out of every seven child care centers (primarily preschools) studied in California was of good or excellent quality.

Ensuring that children, especially those living in at-risk communities, receive the benefits of an age-appropriate, early education program, taught by well-trained staff, will save money and lives by greatly decreasing the number of children who will become involved with crime and violence. Because high-quality preschool education has been shown to benefit children of all backgrounds, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California is working to increase the number of California children served by high-quality preschool programs. Doing so will benefit the state's k-12 education system and improve overall public safety.

To this end, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California endorses the following:

• Increase funding for the State Preschool Program by $50 million, consistent with the Governor's three-year proposal in 2006.
• Retain $35-45 million in unspent preschool funds from AB 172 so that the funding improves and expands preschool as intended.
• Support AB 571 (Jones), which requires the state to provide effective preschool programs for all low-income 3- and 4-year-olds by 2011-2012, and would create a core set of competencies to guide preschool teachers in learning effective teaching techniques.
• Support SB 944 (Padilla) to require the California Department of Education to collect, analyze, and report to the legislature data from state-subsidized preschools, in order to guide policymakers and establish a baseline for evaluating the adequacy and effectiveness of the current preschool system.
• Support AB 1059 (DeLeon) to provide multiple financial assistance opportunities to preschool teachers so that they may take college classes to improve their qualifications and effectiveness, while also improving teacher retention.
• Support AB 1052 (Torrico) to provide opportunities for preschool teachers to improve their skills in teaching Limited-English-Proficient children. This bill addresses one of the biggest hurdles to school success by increasing opportunities for children to learn English before they start Kindergarten.

For more information, please review our comprehensive 2007 State Legislative Agenda.