It was a sad day for early childhood education when Orange County decided that a program designed to help prepare low-income preschoolers for academic success was no longer a priority.
For 25 years the Orange County Department of Education ran a model program where children benefited from academic enrichment while their parents were able to hold jobs and become self-sufficient - instead of depending on welfare.
Instructors with strong backgrounds in early childhood education - many of them members of the Orange County Schools Educators Association (OCSEA) - cared for approximately 1,000 youngsters in 13 sites, helping them learn English and kindergarten readiness skills. Some of the sites offered after-school care for older children as an alternative to their staying home alone. The instructors were paid a livable wage - between $16 and $24 per hour - unlike many in the early childhood education profession. However, in November, school board members maintained the program had to be eliminated because salaries were too high. One board member wrote an editorial saying children belonged with their parents, not in public preschool.
The school board said it was pulling the plug on the program because it was too expensive, estimated to be $1 million in the red this year. In his Orange County Weekly column, Jim Washburn pointed out that the figure is just a fraction of what county government allocates to promote tourism and Disneyland.
After closing the centers, the district posted several high-paying positions for "school readiness specialists" at K-12 school sites, with the total tab for salaries nearly equal to the financial shortfall.
No notice was given to the 200 teachers, assistants and other employees who lost their jobs. The community was not asked to give input, and angry parents, teachers and community members held protests. CTA argued in a federal civil rights suit that the county could not dismiss employees without first conducting a hearing, but the judge ruled in favor of the district.
After closing the subsidized child care centers, the district turned the program over to private operators, who offered to hire back the teachers at drastically reduced salaries. Low-income parents were given vouchers from the state to enroll their children in these privatized programs.
Teachers who lost their jobs say the private programs with drastic salary cuts will lower the quality of educational instruction and result in high staff turnover, which is bad for youngsters. The original program had low turnover.
Teachers describe themselves as being between a rock and a hard place - overqualified to work in most child development programs, but not qualified enough to teach K-12.
"Personally, I don't think our children will get the same level of care or the same level of education," says Debbie Bennet, an OCSEA member who used to work at the Holder Child Development Site. "People who are not as seasoned or educated will be teaching the children. I was offered a job [with the private program] with a pay cut of over 30 percent, without benefits. I couldn't accept that."
"They are expecting kids to know more when they enter kindergarten, but they are bringing in people who are less qualified than we were and paying them less," says Patti Donovan, a member of OCSEA who lost her job at the Oak View Child Development Center in Huntington Beach. "This is horrible for kids, who are losing qualified early childhood educators with numerous years of experience. Instead, they are getting teachers with only six to 12 units of early childhood education and paying them $8 to $12 an hour, with no benefits. It's a setback for the entire profession. We are educators, not babysitters. But I guess the school board doesn't see it that way."
The storm of controversy in Orange County reflects the larger issues surrounding early childhood education. While society claims to value early learning, those who teach preschoolers say they feel like the Rodney Dangerfields of the teaching profession - they get no respect and little money.
"We are not babysitters, we are teachers," says Lorie Guerrero, a Head Start teacher and member of Coachella Valley Teachers Association. "We teach children how to find their path to learning. We are located on the premises of an elementary school, but we are not recognized as part of the school. It's a bit isolating."
"We are always the stepchild," says Teresia Paca, a teacher at Fairgrounds Development Center in Bakersfield and a member of the Kern County Educational Association. "A few years ago, everyone got a raise but us - even the clerical staff."
"People don't realize how hard it is for us," says Cheryl Johnson-Jones, a preschool teacher who serves on the CTA Early Childhood Education Committee. "We work longer days for less pay. But it's a challenge I look forward to every day."
Preschool teachers, many of whom are CTA members, don't usually have four-year degrees and thus receive less pay than K-12 teachers. Instead of a teaching credential, there are various levels of "permits" with increasing levels of college units in early childhood education required, plus hours of instructional experience. For example, a child development associate teacher permit requires 12 semester units of early childhood coursework; a child development teacher permit requires 24 semester units.
Many public schools with prekindergarten classes, however, require teachers to have credentials.
"People think of us as babysitters, but we have most of the same responsibilities that K-12 teachers have," says Paca. "We have full curriculum, assessment and IEPs. We even mainstream students from special education classes. We don't expect to make the same salaries as K-12 teachers because they have more education. But we would like acceptance and some acknowledgement that we are educators. We have to boost our professionalism."
Some advocates of universal preschool would like to see higher educational requirements for all preschool teachers. But those who teach preschool argue that the pay level should be commensurate with increased education. Finding and retaining preschool teachers is difficult. When they do receive college degrees, there is a tendency for them to transfer to K-12 classrooms because the pay is higher.
Many districts say they cannot afford to raise the salaries of preschool teachers - or even have preschool classes - because the reimbursement rate from the state is much lower per pupil than K-12. Over the past 20 years, child development programs have received about $100 million less in cost-of-living increases than the amount awarded to K-12 education.
When Orange County decided to close its early childhood education centers and turn them over to private operators, directors of similar programs across the state formed a lobbying group to prevent the same thing from happening elsewhere.
"We know that Orange County is not an isolated incident," says Wendy Wayne, administrator of the Child Development and Family Services Division at the Kern County Office of Education, which operates 17 preschool and child care programs. "We want to see programs survive."
The lobbying group spearheaded by Wayne, which is a subcommittee of the California Child Development Administrators Association, is pushing for the state to increase the reimbursement rates to school districts for early childhood programs. The group is also surveying school districts and county offices throughout the state that operate such programs.
"We are concerned about this trend and the impact on children," says Wayne. "There is 40 percent turnover a year in the early childhood industry. If we want to have good staff and retain them, we have to offer adequate wages and benefits."
"We're losing the really good early childhood teachers, because there's no future here," says Paca. "I think there is enough money for these programs. People want to pretend that it's not an important issue, but it is important. As long as society continues to deprioritize this, our children will be the biggest losers."
