The video shows a ponytailed girl wearing an orange jail-like uniform, struggling to play hopscotch and climb a jungle gym because her hands and feet are shackled.
"Don’t imprison our children’s future," the video warns, part of an advertising campaign by Good Beginnings Alliance for universal preschool for Hawaii’s 4-year-olds.
Hawaii is one of 11 states without a state-funded early learning program to help children prepare for kindergarten. Gov. Neil Abercrombie has made the creation of a school readiness program the top priority in his two-year budget draft, asking for $2.9 million for planning in fiscal year 2014 and $28.2 million to serve about 3,500 at-risk 4-year-olds in fiscal year 2015.
If the program were successful, it would be expanded over the next decade, eventually serving most of the state’s 18,000 4-year-olds at a cost of more than $150 million a year.
But similar ideas over the past decade have failed to take shape because of questions about cost and whether the state can properly execute the program.
Research indicates that early childhood education can help children develop and reduce costs in education, social services and criminal justice over the long term, but only if children are exposed to high-quality preschool environments. Without consistent standards, talented teachers and involved parents, taxpayer money could be wasted on what amounts to glorified day care.
The Abercrombie administration wants state lawmakers to approve the initial money before knowing exactly what standards would guide the program, how the money would be split between public and private preschools, and how preschools would be held accountable for meeting the state’s goals.
The administration also wants lawmakers to agree to a constitutional amendment so private preschools could receive state money. Article X of the Constitution prohibits the state from using public funds to support private education institutions.
"I think what’s been hard is that we have not had that vision in the state to wait long-term, right?" said Terry Lock, the director of the governor’s Executive Office on Early Learning. "And to take a risk and to start programs like this."
Lock said the state would use the year of planning to set standards, establish a data collection system for monitoring, and enter into contracts with preschools that agree to maintain high-quality programs.
The Executive Office on Early Learning has already released research-based standards that identify the knowledge and behavior expected of children from birth to kindergarten.
Forty-two percent of children in Hawaii enter kindergarten without preschool.
At the start, the school readiness program would serve 4-year-olds who will no longer have the option of junior kindergarten at public schools because the state is eliminating junior kindergarten after the 2013-2014 school year.
Lawmakers determined that junior kindergarten, which began in 2006, was never sufficiently funded, poorly implemented and largely ineffective, in part because younger students were often blended into kindergarten classes.
The state estimates that about 5,100 children will miss the cutoff for the 2014-15 school year, turning 5 after Aug. 1.
The school readiness program would cover about 3,500 of these 4-year-olds, with the remaining 1,600 children likely served by other preschool options.
Children of the poor would be able to attend for free, while children from middle- and higher-income families would pay on a sliding scale an average of $200 to about $600 a month. Parents whose children get free preschool would be encouraged to volunteer at the schools or otherwise actively contribute, such as through a commitment to read to their children.
Lock said the state Department of Education has shown some interest in developing preschools. She also said the school readiness program could coordinate with existing state initiatives such as Pre-Plus, in which private operators offer preschool for low-income children at 17 public-school campuses, and Open Doors, a preschool and child care program for the poor.
Hawaii missed out on a share of federal early learning grants in 2011 after the state’s plan scored poorly compared with other states.
Critics ARE concerned about the state’s ability to deliver quality and ensure accountability, given its sluggish performance in reforming public schools.
According to a 2008 study prepared for Good Beginnings Alliance, every $1 invested in early learning produces $4.20 in savings.
A national study released in December by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that children in Head Start — the federal school readiness program for the poor — showed significant advantages in development over their peers after the first year of the program, but little difference by the time they reached the first and third grades. Head Start has adopted reforms to improve quality and accountability.
State Sen. Jill Tokuda (D, Kailua-Kaneohe), the chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, said the elimination of junior kindergarten could be the catalyst for finally moving the state toward universal preschool.
"We want to make sure we do good by our children."
Rep. Roy Takumi (D, Pearl City-Waipio-Pearl Harbor), the chairman of the House Education Committee, said quality, accessibility and infrastructure would determine whether an initial program could expand and cover more 4-year-olds and potentially even 3-year-olds.
"The good news is that we’re not the first state. So if some colleagues are saying, ‘boy, it’s on a wing and prayer. It seems like a black hole.’ Come on, come on. I can show you rigorous standards that exist in many other states," Takumi said.
Good Beginnings Alliance has been conducting the "Be My Voice Hawai‘i" ad campaign to pressure the state to fund universal preschool.
"We’re pleased with what they’re doing and we think that Terry is off to the right start," said Jacce Mikulanec, the policy and community partnerships director for Good Beginnings Alliance. "From our advocates’ position, we want something that’s aggressive, and really more importantly, something that’s meaningful."
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Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly decribed how much middle- and higher-income families would pay for state-subsidized preschool.
