13abc: Pre-K education discussion heats up as one group runs into financial troubles
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Pre-K education was a major topic in front of Toledo area business and education leaders Monday morning. This comes amid a new campaign for a universal Pre-K program for all of Lucas County.
One of the groups doing Pre-K funding says the money challenges are starting to add up and they will need to cut back on most of what they’re doing right now.
The Pre-K pitch we have heard recently has picked up a more countywide approach, which also means you may see it on a countywide ballot potentially as nearly as November.
The state of Ohio only funds education full time starting at kindergarten. Before that, it’s on either parents, districts that can afford it or districts that get federal funding like Head Start. Hope Toledo has helped fill in some of the gaps in Toledo, but their money is quickly running out.
“For Hope Toledo to fund another school year with our 20 partner providers, the answer is ‘no’. What our goal is, is not just to focus on just funding through the 20 partners that we have had in our demonstration project. That goal has always been, since 2018, was to fund this at scale,” said John Jones, Hope Toledo’s CEO.
Early childhood education was the topic of the Toledo Rotary meeting Monday morning. Everyone supports it but paying for it is the issue. Hope Toledo is trying to get approval to become a tax payer funded entity and be on the November ballot.
“We believe local funding makes a lot of sense because if we wait for Columbus to do it, every year we wait it’s another 4000 to 5000 kids that are four years old that won’t get access to early childhood education,” said Jones.
The I-TEAM asked state Senator Theresa Gavarone if she’d be supportive of the state funding a universal Pre-K program.
“Certainly we’ll be having those conversations and looking at everything. It’s important to look at things holistically. What are the overall costs of educating a child vs not providing that education,” said Gavarone.
“The best intervention is prevention, but every year we start kindergarteners off needing intensive intervention in education which should not happen,” said Dr. Romules Durant, superintendent of Toledo Public Schools.
Dr. Durant says the district would have some partnerships with Hope Toledo if it made it onto a ballot and got funding. The goal would be high quality education.
“It’s its own separate operation, but I think the main thing is that they’re partnering with ourselves to really find zones and areas that aren’t having a presence of early childhood or need more high quality early childhood,” said Dr. Durant.
