Emmet Heffern barely fusses when his mom drops him off for Head Start in the mornings.
He loves his classroom, with its walls covered in numbers, letters, shapes, and colors, and a teacher who embraces his love of books.
His mother loves it all, too.
Nicole Rayner, 27, wasn’t sure if her 3-year-old would be able to get into the Head Start program at Toledo Public Schools. The Point Place mother of two knows there’s often a waiting list, but she filled out the application anyway.
“It’s just been a godsend for him,” she said.
For some Toledo parents, sending their child to daycare, keeping them at home, or dropping them off with a relative is their only option for their preschool-age children. Many don’t qualify for Head Start, and other early childhood education options in the city are limited and often cost-prohibitive.
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz has said time and again over the past 18 months that he wants to change that. He ran for mayor on a platform that included the goal of expanding access to prekindergarten for all 3 and 4-year-olds in the city, an initiative that comes with an estimated $55 million price tag each year.
As he prepares to wrap up his first year in office, Mr. Kapszukiewicz said he has not lost sight of the aspiration. He believes offering early childhood education to all Toledoans regardless of income will strengthen the city.
The mayor said he expects to announce his strategy to make it happen in early 2019.
“We have spent the better part of this year listening, meeting, doing research, and identifying potential funding sources,” he said. “I believe it is time to act.”
WATCH: Inside Toledo’s Head Start program
THE NUMBERS
Teachers, school administrators, and politicians all point to the data as the best argument for expanding access to preschool. Research shows that children who attend prekindergarten fare better academically than those who don’t.
The American Educational Research Association, which compiled the results of 22 early childhood education studies between 1960 and 2016, found that early childhood programs boosted high school graduation rates by 11.4 percentage points. They also reduced the chances of a student being held back by 8.3 percentage points and shrunk the need for special education placement by 8.1 percentage points.
At Toledo Public Schools, officials found that students who had access to early childhood education were more prepared for kindergarten than those who did not.
Districts across the state administer an annual readiness assessment to incoming kindergarten students to measure how prepared they are when they start the school year. Depending on where they score, children are either considered to be demonstrating readiness, approaching readiness, or emerging readiness.
Those who score in the emerging readiness bracket need intensive intervention, said Amy Allen, who oversees early childhood and special education at Toledo Public Schools.
In the fall of 2017, 44 percent of TPS students fell into that category. Thirty-seven percent were considered approaching readiness while 19 percent were demonstrating readiness.
“These kids come into kindergarten behind the eight ball, and not just a little bit behind. They come in way behind,” Ms. Allen said of the emerging readiness group. “It requires an incredible amount of time, effort, and money to get those kids to where they need to be.”
The percentage of TPS students considered ready for kindergarten — 19 percent — is below both countywide and statewide figures. Thirty-two percent of all Lucas County kindergarteners were considered ready in 2017, and that figure jumps to about 41 percent statewide, Ms. Allen said.
FUNDING
TPS serves about 1,300 children through its early childhood education programs and maintains a waiting list of more than 400. That barely scratches the surface of the roughly 8,000 children officials estimate are prekindergarten age in the city.
A lack of both funding and physical space limits the public school district’s offerings, so officials fill available slots with those who need it the most.
Children who rise to the top of the district’s long waiting list are economically distressed, have had contact with child and family services, have been homeless, or have a family member who is incarcerated, Ms. Allen said.
The district receives about $9.5 million annually from the federal government to support its Head Start programming. To qualify, families must have income at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
TPS also receives a portion of $4.7 million in state funds distributed countywide for preschool programs that accept families below 200 percent of the poverty guidelines.
Superintendent Romules Durant said offering universal preschool citywide would remove barriers many families face when trying to find quality preschool for their children.
“We want to make sure that our kids, no matter what their zip code is, they’re born into enriched language, born into enriched activities,” Mr. Durant said.
COST
Community leaders pegged the annual cost of providing preschool to all 3 and 4-year-olds at $55 million during a roundtable discussion last December on prekindergarten hosted by the mayor. But that number could go up or down depending on what city leaders want the program to look like.
Offering full-day programming costs about $9,000 per child and half-day programming costs about $6,500, Ms. Allen said.
The cost decreases if officials decide they want to start with just 4-year-olds and expand access to younger children down the road. There’s also the possibility of providing funding to families on a sliding scale based on household income.
Toledo City Councilman Cecelia Adams, who has long been an advocate for increasing educational opportunities in Toledo, acknowledged the hefty price tag but said there’s momentum to make it happen.
“I think Toledo absolutely can do it. I think this is the right time, we have the right people, and we have the passion at this moment to get it done,” she said.
Both she and Mr. Durant said they envision a funding structure that combines local, state, federal, and private dollars.
While on the campaign trail, Mr. Kapszukiewicz said he would aim to grow preschool offerings without a levy request, although he admires Dayton’s income tax-funded universal prekindergarten model. He said he is close to solidifying a funding strategy for Toledo but would not divulge specifics.
“I think right after the first of the year, not far into 2019, we’re going to be in the position to make a major announcement about an expansion of pre-k in Toledo,” he said.
Neither Mr. Durant nor Ms. Adams is ruling out the possibility that they’ll need some local taxpayer help.
“It might be part of some kind of request from taxpayers if need be, but it would have to be a dedicated stream that they knew it was going precisely for that,” Ms. Adams said. “It wouldn't be the only way. It’s just a possibility.”
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Mr. Kapszukiewicz has invited Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley to Toledo on Thursday to speak to community leaders about how Dayton was able to implement what it calls the preschool promise. All Dayton 4-year-olds are eligible for financial assistance for preschool on a sliding scale based on household income.
The program was made possible by a 0.25-percent income tax increase that voters passed in 2016. That tax is in place for eight years, and Ms. Whaley said Dayton officials will assess the program’s educational success to determine whether to go for a levy renewal once it nears expiration. She credited the levy’s success, in part, to support from the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.
“I have to give the business community some real credit here. If we’re serious about improving our workforce, we have to put our money where our mouth is,” she said. “This is about investment in your community, both in infrastructure to the neighborhoods, but also an investment in our future workforce.”
Mr. Durant said early childhood education will set kids up for success beyond their kindergarten through high school years. He believes it also will position Toledo for economic growth.
Students will be more prepared for school, learn more, and be more likely to graduate. They’ll also be more socially prepared to work in teams and communicate effectively in a professional setting, he said.
“It’s going to start with early childhood development,” Mr. Durant said. “It’s going to ride into career technology programming and aligning kids between skill set to jobs, so that ultimately employment continues to increase within our own region because we control our own region’s ability.”
Emmet has been enrolled in Head Start for just over two months. He now knows the letters of the alphabet, counts with confidence, and can recognize the days of the week. He comes home every afternoon and talks about his friends and what they all learned.
“It’s really nice that he has that social aspect, but he’s also learning so much that I really wasn’t expecting him to start doing until next year or the year after because he’s only 3,” Ms. Rayner said. “He didn’t get that kind of education at daycare.”
Parents of toddlers across the city want the best future for their kids. For Ms. Rayner, preparing her son for kindergarten is one way she can help set him up for success.
“I think he’ll definitely be ready,” Ms. Rayner said.
First Published November 14, 2018, 5:26 p.m.
