Preschool program in danger of failing

The program is in financial limbo, awaiting a decision by state officials.

By Peter H. Milliken

GIRARD — A Cortland woman said a preschool program threatened by a reduced state budget has helped her daughter immensely.

“It’s really made a difference,” said Jackie Croteau, whose 31‚Ñ2-year-old daughter, Lillian, attends the state-funded Early Learning Initiative program at the Kidz Castle preschool and day-care center in Girard.

“It’s nice to have a place to take Lillie that is reliable” and offers a learning experience, Croteau said. “She comes home and she sings to me.” . Her daughter also brings home arts- and-crafts projects, Croteau added.

“I don’t always have the time to teach her new things, and it’s always nice to have them as a backup to help me with that,” Croteau said of the preschool staff.

A single parent, Croteau is a waitress and a full-time student in Youngstown State University’s bachelor’s degree program in nursing.

She said it would be a hardship for her to try to find another preschool or to rely on a family member to baby-sit. Croteau said she cannot afford to pay for preschool out of her own pocket.

Recently funded at $132 million a year, the Early Learning Initiative is a full-day, year-round program serving 12,000 children statewide. That includes 790 children in 30 centers in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, which are under the auspices of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center. One of the ELI preschool centers is at YSU’s Beeghly College of Education.

The program is now in financial limbo as state officials try to determine its fate.

“We’re still having conversations with the legislators to see how they intended the investment in early [childhood] care to be implemented,” said Amanda Wurst, press secretary to Gov. Ted Strickland.

Due to the state’s budget constraints, the governor initially proposed cutting the program to 8,000 children to be served statewide, but he later proposed to a legislative conference committee eliminating funding for ELI, but increasing support for another subsidized- child-care category, Wurst said.

On Monday evening, the legislators passed a $51 billion, two-year budget containing a broad category named “early care” to support early childhood programs, Wurst said, adding that she didn’t know how much money was in the “early care” category.

If ELI ends up being cut, Wurst said she didn’t know who would decide which children will stay in the program and which ones will be discharged, but she said the program is administered by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Lenal Morello, family services supervisor of the Mahoning County ESC, said a prominent Columbus child care advocate told her the program likely would have only enough money under the new budget to serve 1,500 children statewide.

If ELI is abolished, Morello said about 65 percent of income-eligible children in Mahoning and Trumbull counties would enter public schools without preschool education.

The federally funded Head Start preschool program is unable to serve all income eligible children, and has a waiting list, Morello noted.

“There will be a loss of jobs and child-care centers. The greatest loss will be for the children entering kindergarten without the benefit of a preschool experience,” Morello said of the consequences of amajor cut in ELI.

“It could force us to close,” Theresa Herrick, co-owner of Kidz Castle said, referring to the prospect of a deep cut. Fifty-four of the 72 children served by Kidz Castle are enrolled in the initiative, she said.

ELI teaches children the alphabet and numbers, personal hygiene and social skills, such as sharing, sitting in a circle, or standing in a line and waiting one’s turn, Herrick said. A speech pathologist evaluates each child twice a year, and a school psychologist is called in as needed, she added.

“Children who have not had a preschool experience do not have the ability to sit still and remain focused. They don’t have the concepts necessary for kindergarten teachers to build on,” Morello said.

milliken@vindy.com

Early Learning Initiative Facts

It is a state-funded, all-day, all-year preschool program for children, ages 3 to kindergarten or compulsory school age.

The gross family income eligibility ceiling is twice the federal poverty level ($36,620 annually for a family of three).

The maximum adult-child ratio is 1:10.

Teachers must have at least an associate degree in early-childhood education or a related field.

It follows a research-based curriculum aligned with Ohio Early Learning Content Standards.

It provides developmental and health screenings and offers referral and follow-up for children with suspected health problems or developmental delays.

Source: Mahoning County Educational Service Center