NEWS

Advocates calling for publicly funded preschool

Patrick Anderson
panderson@argusleader.com
Myra Bartscher, 4, has William Stich, 5, fix her monkey Friday at the veterinarian during preschool playtime at Youth Enrichment Services in Sioux Falls. YES offers some scholarships for low-income families. Parents in this state are forced to turn to private options like YES for preschool because South Dakota is one of 10 that does not offer any public support for early childhood.

Five years after she supervised a preschool pilot program for Sioux Falls children, Gera Jacobs remains hopeful.

She hopes the experiment will have a lasting effect.

She hopes it leads to greater educational resources for South Dakota parents and children.

She hopes it leads to more public funding for preschool.

But the pilot is gone, most of its funding pulled. While a similar program continues in Rapid City, the state’s preschool needs are still desperate, said Jacobs, past President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

“I know we are one of the lowest of all the states, in terms of making preschool available to those families that need it,” Jacobs said.

South Dakota is one of 10 states that doesn’t offer public support for preschool programming. Despite mounting evidence preschool is critical to a child’s future — and a boon for local economies — state lawmakers have refused to fund it. Meanwhile, grassroots early childhood advocates such as Jacobs worry about families without adequate access.

South Dakota has the fourth-highest rate of young children not in preschool in the United States, according to a 2015 report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, with nearly two-thirds of the state’s 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds not in early learning programs.

It’s the lowest preschool enrollment rate in the region, trailing North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming.

Education experts like Kathy Cruse point to a connection between low preschool enrollment and the state’s problematic reading scores.

South Dakota also has the lowest fourth-grade reading scores in the region, with fewer than one-third of students scoring above the proficiency benchmark set by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Cruse is executive director of the South Dakota Head Start Association.

“The fact is, there’s lots of studies that show that early intervention is the time, and has the most benefit,” Cruse said.

Investing in early childhood education can reduce achievement gaps between students. It can also reduce teen pregnancy, crime and high school drop-out rates, according to a report authored by Nobel prize-winning economist James Heckman.

Then, there’s the literal rate of return. Each dollar invested in preschool eventually earns more than 14 percent back for local economies, according to Heckman’s report.

That’s what caught the interest of former state Sen. Tom Dempster, who works at IFAM Capital.

“There’s no public expenditure with a higher payback than early childhood education,” Dempster said.

The Sioux Falls Republican led the charge for more state funding in Pierre, repeatedly bringing forward bills to establish a state-funded program.

Each time, lawmakers defeated Dempster’s proposals, skeptical of the need.

Dempster’s final bill, which would have created an “early learning council” and provided funding for voluntary prekindergarten programs, was passed by the Senate in 2010, Dempster’s last year in the Legislature. It fizzled out in a recalled House committee vote.

The drumbeat has since faded.

“South Dakota is ignoring an issue that is critical to its success,” Dempster said.

Despite silence in Pierre, Dempster and other advocates for early childhood education have continued the rallying cry.

The United Way still funds a vestige of the Sioux Falls pilot preschool once managed by Jacobs. The Sioux Falls district relies on $223,000 each year from the United Way to provide learning for up to 68 low-income children.

Even excluding the district’s Preschool Opportunities Program, Sioux Falls families have ample opportunities for preschool. Organizations such as Youth Enrichment Services provide curriculum-based learning for young children, with half-day or even full-day classes.

“What we provide children is the experience that they need to grow and develop to be lifelong learners,” CEO Rebecca Wimmer said.

The youth services group offers preschool scholarships for low-income parents.

It’s outside of the larger metro areas where finding a preschool becomes more of a problem, Cruse said.

Head Start, a federal program, serves about 4,500 children in South Dakota, but the state office typically has a waiting list of about 1,500 students. The organization surveyed parents in small communities such as Sisseton and Pine Ridge, and found access lacking.

Like Jacobs, Dempster remains hopeful something will change.

“Early childhood education is a massive tree, if you will,” Dempster said. “Every time you take a hatchet to the tree it becomes closer to falling.”