As a policy goal, the campaign to expand access to preschool is a good one, and making use of Hawaii’s existing network of private preschools is logical.
Standing behind early learning programs, or what the administration of Gov. Neil Abercrombie calls "school readiness," is a great deal of research indicating that children who enter kindergarten with quality preparation perform better in the classroom. It is not a silver bullet, and reinforcement is essential to continued progress, but it is foundational.
Reaching that goal in a fiscally responsible way, however, should be a deliberate process. The current efforts in the state Legislature to make that process a gradual one seems a rational approach, one that deserves support.
House and Senate conferees are expected today to craft legislation that would put this question to voters: Should the state Constitution be amended to allow taxpayer funds to be spent on private preschool programs?
The language is not finalized yet, but conceptually such an amendment seems necessary before a full-scale, state-subsidized preschool initiative can be executed.
Additionally, lawmakers are considering whether to place the initial phase of the program within the state Department of Human Services, which already runs what’s classified as a child-care subsidy program, Preschool Open Doors.
But the governor is careful to distinguish what it wants to do through its newly created Executive Office on Early Learning, from Preschool Open Doors, which provides subsidies to income-qualified parents who select licensed preschool programs.
The envisioned new program would be more tightly controlled, with more rigorous education standards.
The state attorney general has issued an opinion that because the state proposes to purchase slots at approved preschools and then have families apply for them, this is not a voucher program.
State House leaders rightly felt worried about ramping up a new, inexperienced bureaucracy too quickly. So the administration has agreed to a short-term arrangement in which DHS would oversee the first year of a transitional school readiness program.
That period is focused largely on strategic planning and preparing to accommodate, a year from now, the estimated 3,500 children who will be too young to enter kindergarten — the "late-borns" who currently are directed to junior kindergarten classes.
The junior kindergarten program had been criticized for getting short shrift in staffing and for uneven effectiveness, so the state decided to end it in the 2014-15 school year, with the intention of replacing it with a new preschool initiative.
The amended bill at least takes care of the near-term needs of the late-borns.
It also provides some time for the state to resolve the constitutional question and to develop a better-articulated strategic plan.
Then the Legislature will have an opportunity to review that plan, the timetable for full implementation and details on funding needs.
Lawmakers are now contemplating expanding the initial phase into a full early-learning program over the course of 10 years, one that could serve all 18,000 of the state’s 4-year-olds. It’s a timetable that could be adjusted on the basis of the state’s fiscal condition.
The state’s economy has recovered, but some legislators feel that it’s too soon to move too quickly toward anything approaching "universal" preschool.
We agree. There are many other issues to be resolved:
What would the income requirements be for receiving any state subsidy? How much influence would the state have over the educational program at participating private preschools? What would the qualifying standards be for these preschools? How can this be done efficiently, without building a top-heavy bureaucracy to oversee it?
And, just as important: Should other state expenditures be ratcheted down to make more room in the budget for this project, if it is to be a state priority?
This becomes especially relevant if the proposed constitutional amendment about funding for private preschool succeeds.
Allowing more time for detailed planning — and for the voters of the state to have a say on using public funds for early learning — is the only reasonable way to move ahead on such a transformational development.
