State budget crisis may impede groundbreaking preschool reform

Groundbreaking preschool regulations have been tweaked to reflect Illinois' dire financial situation, but budget concerns still likely will stand in the way of getting the neediest students help, suburban educators say.

The new bilingual regulations, up for approval in late June by the State Board of Education, were modified at the eleventh hour after board members were inundated with concerns about cost from local school officials.

"At this point, our district has had to pay what the state isn't paying," said Sandra Warner, coordinator of West Chicago District 33's early childhood program, one of the 199 school officials who wrote to the state board about the changes. "... I do agree there's some irony to the changes coming now. These are difficult times."

The state preschool requirement changes, brought forward in October, were written to deal with a change in the state law, which extended the state's responsibility to educate children new to English from K-12 down to preschool, state board spokeswoman Mary Fergus said.

With preschool exempted from accountability under Federal No Child Left Behind law, the comprehensive regulations are believed to be the first in the nation, monthly education trade magazine Education Week noted in April.

The modifications originally stipulated that school districts would require all preschool teachers to be bilingual certified by 2014; would take part in ongoing professional development; screen all students through a prescribed test; and provide bilingual education in preschools where there are 20 or more bilingual students who speak the same language - all things that incur additional costs.

According to state board English Language Learners Division Administrator Robin Lisboa and Early Childhood Division Administrator Kay Henderson's memo to the board, most comments were centered around the cost of the new requirements.

With the state's current fiscal crisis, they noted, school districts may apply to the state board for reimbursement of excess costs.

But receiving funding is unlikely.

"The appropriations... most likely will be reduced or level-funded in the next fiscal year, and if this occurs, more of the cost of providing the required services would be borne by school districts," they wrote.

Recommendations were later changed to delay using specific screening tools, implementing Spanish language arts standards and professional development requirements until 2012-13 - "given the current economic difficulties."

While the cost-saving modifications may help a little bit, schools still likely will end up with fewer resources and more responsibilities.

Schools are waiting on more than $1.4 billion in promised state aid.

Of next year's $26 billion operating budget, sent to Gov. Pat Quinn last week, general state aid for K-12 education will remain flat.

However, grants to school districts to cover, among other programs, early childhood and bilingual services will drop $300 million to $1.6 billion.

Fergus said agency officials have heard that like last year they will receive the money in a lump sum, and be forced to decide what to cut. Last year, early childhood and bilingual funding saw reductions by 10 percent apiece.

"It's too soon to say how the board will make those cuts but they'll be working with staff over the next few weeks and those tough decisions will likely be made at the June Board meeting," Fergus noted.

The same meeting, ironically, when the preschool reforms are expected to be approved.

Across the suburbs, districts are cutting their staffs and turning needy children away in response, just at the same time the new programs are being implemented.

Julie Kallenbach, early childhood director for Elgin Area School District U-46, said the district has spent recent months preparing for the changes.

"We've been preparing for this because we believe in the philosophy." she said. "Our program blended at-risk and bilingual students as far back as the 1990s."

But implementing the new screening procedures, which require someone with a bachelor's degree in education to conduct an assessment on the 3- or 4-year-old, and increasing the number of bilingual certified staffers will be a challenge, Kallenbach said.

"How do we afford to have teachers doing testing when we want them teaching the kids?" she asked.

Expecting to begin next year with a $41 million deficit, U-46 announced $30 million in budget cuts in March. That included seven of 47 early childhood teachers and six classroom aides. Woodland Heights Early Childhood Center in Streamwood will close its doors in June.

In West Chicago District 33, 300 at-risk students were served at two preschool campuses this year.

Next year, it expects to only be able to serve 80, Warner said.

Five of the district's 13 early childhood teachers have been cut, Warner said. The campus at Winfield Primary will be shut down next year. The state owes the district $2.4 million in back payments, according to its website.

"The district has had to fund most of (our program) this year. They won't be able to fund it next year if the state doesn't (pay)," she said.

With 300 slots, "We were always out looking for needy students. We could screen everyone that called in. Now we don't have much of an at-risk program," she said.

Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54, which this year served nearly 1,000 students through its preschool program, has let 14 staffers go in anticipation of state budget cuts next year. It expects to serve fewer than 500 kids next year, according to spokeswoman Terri McHugh.

"Funding is our biggest concern right now. We're working on all of these different scenarios," U-46's Kallenbach said. "We have to register children to have them ready to go, but we're probably going to be registering children only to tell them later they may not have a spot."