This year, Governor Bredesen is again expected to add significant funding for Pre-K education efforts, to the point that we would be able to add another class or two.  Unfortunately, we have no place to put them.

The Oak Ridge Preschool exemplifies his reasoning behind the Pre-K effort: for over 40 years, we have been able to demonstrate consistently that a carefully focused preschool curriculum can virtually erase the achievement gap that exists between at-risk students, sometimes even students with learning disabilities, and children in higher socioeconomic groups, two-parent families, etc.

At that early age (our preschool is both three and four year olds), the brain is still physically developing.  The right kinds of interaction and stimulation help to develop the brain in ways that later schooling simply cannot — it increases their learning potential.

AT’s comment on the mouse post sums up the feelings of many:

Netmom, there are few people I respect more than Dr. Phillips. I’ve had quite a few chances to talk with her, and I’m mighty impressed. She’s an asset.
Its really a shame this [mouse publicity] is on the preschool, realistically, it could happen anywhere, but it really sucks that the reason the place is on the news is this crap, and not the fact that its done TREMENDOUS good for many kids in Oak Ridge, including both of mine.

It’s true that Oak Ridge is ahead of the state in early childhood education, but it’s also true that there are always more children in need than we are able to serve.  Expanding the preschool to meet the actual need will require some investment of local funds, but the payback is extremely generous — the most commonly-cited in is 13:1, which includes lifetime stats of improved future earnings along with reduced welfare and incarceration rates.

Even without considering the lifetime impacts, pre-k reduces the need for remedial and special education services in K-12.  The Reading Recovery program utilized in all of our elementary schools is very expensive, but we continue to practice it because it works.   If we could reduce the need and utilization through pre-k, we could raise the performance level for all of our students, while reducing later expenditures for catch-up services.

The most immediate need is for capital funding to renovate and expand the 60-year old facility.  Unfortunately, the City is not in a capital improvements mood at the moment, so significant change will have to occur before we can fully take advantage of the Governor’s pre-k initiative.