Free Preschool plan (home, construction, college)

[casper324]

Why is the silly notion of free preschool for 3 and 4 year olds still on the table? I never did get a response from Corzine when I posed this question so I'd like to know what others think. Personally I don't understand how with budget cuts, falling revenue, the unsustainable Public payroll/benefits Corzine hasn't pulled the silly idea of free preschool off the table. Do we really need to provide free preschool? How are we paying for the additional transportation costs, teachers, staff , benefits/pension and even room in the schools when many are at capacity? Why isn't there more of an uproar from the citizens of NJ?

[doc1]

Originally Posted by casper324

....... Why isn't there more of an uproar from the citizens of NJ?

[BobKovacs]

There's nothing silly about the idea- the silly parts are not having a funding mechanism in place, and using the public schools to provide the service with all the bureaucracy that brings. Here in GA, there's a free preschool program that entitles you to one year of pre-K- its funded by the state lottery, you enroll the kids at private preschools that offer the program, and the schools are reimbursed for each student they have in the program. Its a very popular program down here, and while the quality of the program tends to vary from school to school, any amount of pre-K has got to be better than none at all.

[camaro69]

Our school system was supposed to be funded by the state lottery. Unfort, that money goes into the states black hole, never to be seen again.

[VeradoDan]

I agree with the OP. It's an absolutely outrageous program given the budget and property tax situations in this state. It's also annoying that we're continuing to absolve parents of any and all financial responsibility for creating a child.

[casper324]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

There's nothing silly about the idea- the silly parts are not having a funding mechanism in place, and using the public schools to provide the service with all the bureaucracy that brings. Here in GA, there's a free preschool program that entitles you to one year of pre-K- its funded by the state lottery, you enroll the kids at private preschools that offer the program, and the schools are reimbursed for each student they have in the program. Its a very popular program down here, and while the quality of the program tends to vary from school to school, any amount of pre-K has got to be better than none at all.

Bob, here in NJ our property taxes AVERAGE 7500.00. My SIL pays close to 30,000. Why? the cost of schools, pensions, a crooked School Construction that blew 8 Billion dollars and didn't finish schools, and we pay our Superintendents and Principals 6 figure salaries.

I am happy Georgia has free preschool and it is not a burden on the residents. However I pay close to 1000.00 per month just in property taxes and I (and many others) simply can afford it any more.

Corzine will slash programs for the disabled/health and create a new black hole. It simply doesn't make any sense to me.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by casper324

Bob, here in NJ our property taxes AVERAGE 7500.00. My SIL pays close to 30,000. Why? the cost of schools, pensions, a crooked School Construction that blew 8 Billion dollars and didn't finish schools, and we pay our Superintendents and Principals 6 figure salaries.

I am happy Georgia has free preschool and it is not a burden on the residents. However I pay close to 1000.00 per month just in property taxes and I (and many others) simply can afford it any more.

Corzine will slash programs for the disabled/health and create a new black hole. It simply doesn't make any sense to me.

You're preachin' to the choir. I worked for a construction company that was involved with the $8 billion NJSCC mess, so I saw that waste of tax dollars first hand. While my taxes weren't as high as yours, I didn't feel that it made sense to continue to pay them just to support the urban areas that can't support themselves, so we packed up and headed elsewhere, just like so many others have. Is it perfect here? Nope, but it beats what we left behind.

[hrjersey]

I agree that the money to pay for it just isn't there. There are still plenty of towns that still don't have full day Kindergarten so it doesn't make any sense. But if you want to know why it is being discussed then the answer has to do with the research.

Children who are not reading at grade level by 1st grade will continue to fall further behind in the following years. What we know is that students who attend a quality pre-K program are more likely to be successful in school.

I see this in the Abbott district where I work. The Pre-K kids definitely are more prepared then the kids that stay home all day. I don't know if it is as necessary in wealthier districts where parents are more likely to send the kids to pre-k or where the kids are exposed to more through parental involvement.

It would definitely take a financial burden off working parents who already pay for pre-k, but would just show up in the form of additional taxes since so many more kids would be in the system.

[shannybannany]

The key word is: Quality preschool program.

Believe me, as a preschool teacher, the better teachers work in Head Start, etc.. (As I do.)
You are required to have a Bachelor's degree and it pays much better than private "For-Profit" schools. The private places don't require much which in turn is why their teachers are paid a pittance.

I have worked in both private (For Profit) "preschools" and state funded programs and the difference is unbelievable. The state-funded preschools are far superior.

Some people say that a preschool program (any) is better than nothing at all but that is not true. Some "preschools" are so detrimental that it would be better that the child stayed home.

Just my 2c

Shanny

[VeradoDan]

Shanny: I don't think anyone has really argued that the kids wouldn't get a quality education. It's the cost of it we worry about, as our property taxes are already so high people are leaving this state in droves. Can we afford this? I honestly don't think so.

I'm sure you're a good teacher, but because you're a good teacher, you're given a good salary, benefits, retirement, etc. If this goes through, there would have to be a whole lot more teachers with college degrees such as yourself hired and placed into the same system. It's a whole new level of employees when we already can't afford the ones we have now, much less retirees.

I'd throw my support behind this system if, and only if, we could eliminate Abbott and restore proper state aid to local communities so our property taxes are on par with the majority of the rest of the U.S.