By New America Media

Advocates of preschool call it “the most studied program in education reform,” virtually guaranteed to improve children’s chances of succeeding in school.
    Yet only 44 percent of California’s 4-year-olds today are enrolled — putting the state near the bottom nationwide in preschool enrollment. Some 83 percent of Hispanic 4-year-olds, 59 percent of Asians and 64 percent of African Americans have no access to preschool.
    Proposition 82 on the June 6 ballot would turn this dismal record around, backers of the campaign told a New America Media briefing last week in San Francisco. “If this measure passes, it will be revolutionary for preschoolers, as well as K-12,” said Catherine Atkin, president of the non-partisan, nonprofit advocacy organization, Preschool California. “All parents would finally have a choice about where to send their 4-year-olds.”
    Unlike programs like Head Start that offer preschool only to qualifying low-income families, Prop 82 would ensure free quality preschool for all kids, regardless of their family’s income.
    A small tax increase for the top 0.6 percent of the state’s taxpayers would generate $2.4 billion a year, enough to finance the entire program, from building new facilities to staff training.
    Proponents of the bill say the election will be close, and that California’s ethnic voters will be the deciding vote.
    Some media members wondered why the bill focuses on preschool when K-12 is a failed system.
    The public school system is in trouble, agrees Dr. Patricia Phipps, an early childhood consultant who served as executive director of the California Association for Young Children. But this should not overshadow the importance of having a solid foundation, she said. Preschool helps kids learn how to learn, she said, and gets children, as well as parents, invested in school early. This serves young people throughout their academic lives.
   “We know the K-12 system is broken, and we can’t fix it fast enough,” said Phipps. “Preschool helps kids navigate through the system, and Prop 82 gives all kids — rich or poor — that opportunity.”
    The success of each child also brings tangible benefits to the state. In the lifetime of each student who has attended preschool, the state avoids paying the hefty price tag of $30,000 in remedial classes, criminal costs and other expenses for those who struggle both in and out of school.