Every child should have access to high-quality education. Research shows that children start learning long before formal schooling begins and that underachievement affects children from all communities and income groups - not just the lowest income households. Schools benefit greatly when children are prepared to enter Kindergarten ready to learn. However, working and middle-income families often have the most difficulty because they earn too much to qualify for assistance but cannot afford expensive, high quality programs on their own.
Once again, the State of Illinois is requesting proposals for the Preschool For All Grant.
The goal of the Preschool for All Children program is to provide educational services to all 3- to 5-year-old children whose families choose to participate. The Preschool for All Children program focuses on providing high-quality educational programs for children who are determined to be at risk of academic failure. It also provides funding for programs serving families of low to moderate income (middle-income families) whose children are not considered to be at risk academically and other families that choose to participate.
In awarding Preschool for All Children grants, the Illinois State Board of Education must address two legislatively mandated priorities. The first priority in awarding grants must be given to applicants that propose to serve primarily children who have been identified as being at risk of academic failure. The second priority in awarding grants must be given to applicants proposing to serve primarily children whose family’s income is less than four times the poverty guidelines.
According to the 2009 HHS Poverty Guidelines, the poverty level for a family of 4 is $22,050; four times the poverty level is $88,200.
If a family of four makes less than $88,200, they would qualify for this program.
Neighboring districts including LaGrange School Districts 102 and 105, LaGrange Highlands School District 106 and Gower School District 62 have successfully applied for and receive the Preschool For All grant and are providing a free high quality preschool program to qualifying children in their districts.
For two years in a row, Pleasantdale School District 107 has not applied for the Preschool For All Grant. Isn't it time for our school board to insist that Pleasantdale apply for this grant to assist the middle income families in our district?
The current scholarships our district provides are helpful to the lowest income families, but they completely leave out middle income families.
We are asking our current school board to seek out and apply for this grant for the middle income families in our district!
For more information on Preschool for All, go to http://www.isbe.net/earlychi/preschool/default.htm
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
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8 comments:
Thank you for such important information. I don't understand why our school administration won't take the time to apply for this. It's free money! Certainly we have many families in the District with an annual income of less than $88,200. Shame on the Board for not insisting that this be pursued.
I just read an article in this Sunday's Chicago Tribune (3/1/09) that stated that preschool is free in the City of Chicago Public Schools, if you live in the district. Why can't we do the same for our children?
Last I heard, our superintendant and board refused to consider that we have enough families that would qualify. Lst year, I saw a list of families that proved otherwise but I was told that even after these names were presented on a petition, the board still refused to acknowledge the possibility for need. I have an idea that is fair.... why not have tuition based on a percentage of income from your federal tax returns. That way everyone would actually be paying an equal amount based on their income... or how about a sliding scale? I would like to see the board of education justify to the children, why some of them can attend and some cannot? I bet if we could prove that it raised test scores.... they'd make it happen...
Please clarify- in order to qualify for the grant, do we not need to identify and segregate special needs children? Will this not destroy the laudable system of inclusive education that we currently enjoy in District 107? The inclusion of special needs children in our regular classrooms is a facet of our school that benefits each and every child, for years to come. If a grant comes with those sorts of "strings" it is NOT a bargain. Whoever thinks there is such a thing "free" money is dangerously naive.
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for your comments. The Preschool for All (PFA) grant does not identify or segregate special needs children. Rather, the PFA grant has specific guidelines on the number of special education children that can be in the classroom so the classroom remains fully inclusive.
What the PFA grant does, is provide a high quality preschool program for children who are identified as at risk of academic failure or those from families with low to moderate income.
Being at risk of academic failure encompasses a wide variety of risk factors. Some examples are: a child that lives in a home where English is a second language, a child from a single parent household, a child that has siblings that are experiencing academic difficulties, a child that is not enrolled in any program, a child that receives speech, language or hearing services, a child from a large family (4 or more siblings) etc.
Low to moderate income includes families that make less than four times the poverty level. An example of four times the poverty level for a family of four is $88,200.
More information can be found at the following website: http://www.isbe.net/earlychi/preschool/default.htm
My Goodness People! Quit moaning and groaning! If you don't like what the district is doing with the preschool program, go elsewhere. There are plenty of outstanding independant preschools out there available to your child. Do some research! Maybe the school needs to pick their battles with grants and such. I would be thoroughly embarrassed if I were making $88,000 a year and accepted assistance thru grant money for preschool!!! This money should go to the folks who are below, at or slightly above poverty level (the folks who really can't afford it and need it)or the kids in our district with special needs. Grant money should not to the general public. Just because it's free money doesn't mean we should use it. I would support a grant for a huge expenditure such as laptops for all middle school students and/or technology education upgrades. Oh...in regards to the number of families that might qualify for that grant...why and when would anyone see "a list of families that proved otherwise"...and were presented on a petition????(as per the March 10th,10:10 pm comment)I sincerely doubt that there was any such list as this would be a severe breech of confidentiality! I assume the petition was just a list of folks who disagreed with the increase in preschool fees.
Your comments at the forum stated the district should not subsidise the preschool program. So if the district doesn't qualify for the Preschool for All grant are you saying we should cancel the program? Many of you stated that taxpayers money should not be used for a small group of students, but then you want free preschool for everyone? Please explain. Who do you want to pay for this? The taxpayers or preschool families? I also heard referendum mentioned to pay for programs?
Dear Anyonymous on March31 at 9:28 p.m.
Thank you for your comments. What we stated at the forum was that our district is paying our teachers full salaries in the extended day program, yet they are not allowed to cover any new material. Is this being fiscally prudent?
Both programs are rolled into one budget so it is impossible for us to see who is paying for what and where the actual deficits lie.
We want the preschool program to be accessible to everyone in the district since everyone’s tax dollars are supporting it. We want the district administration to apply for the preschool grant. The Preschool for All grant does not provide free preschool for every child, only the children that qualify under the grant. This would allow children that are “at risk” (as indicated many different factors) or cannot afford preschool to attend when they might not do so otherwise. We are the only local school district that subsidizes a private preschool program. Grand Avenue's preschool program is housed at LaGrange Highlands School but is not subsidized by the LaGrange Highlands school district. It is a private preschool and costly to attend.
The fact is, our district is subsidizing a preschool that only the district’s wealthiest or poorest children can attend. Before we brought these concerns to the board, the poorest children were also excluded from the program. Don’t you want all children to enter kindergarten on the same playing field? When children do not attend preschool, they enter kindergarten leagues behind those who have. They then spend the entire year trying to catch up and often times these children are then referred for summer school, reading lab, the action math group or private tutoring.
The bottom line is that if the Pleasantdale School District is subsidizing the preschool and extended day kindergarten program, then it cannot and should not exclude certain children. If the school district stops subsidizing these programs, then the families that use them should be the only ones to pay for them, just like it’s done everywhere else.
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