It appears that Denver’s new $10-million-a-year preschool program, approved by voters in 2006, is off to a slow start with only 695 participants.
It’s an ambitious and laudable effort to prepare 4-year-olds so they’re ready to learn when they arrive in kindergarten.
But it’s incumbent on those running the Denver Preschool Program to ramp up their efforts and get more kids, particularly those who need it most, enrolled.
Organizers have made fresh promises to do just that. We are hopeful they will be able to fulfill them.
On Tuesday, James Mejia, chief executive of the Denver Preschool Program, told Denver City Council members that the group is about to kick off an enrollment campaign.
We wish the group well. Denver Public Schools, like many other urban school districts, struggles with children who enter the school system at a disadvantage. Perhaps they don’t know their numbers or letters, or maybe they don’t speak English.
Michael Bennet, superintendent for Denver Public Schools, told The Post in an interview in January that early childhood education is imperative.
“The data (are) absolutely clear,” he said. “If we don’t get kids started off right, if they are not ready to learn by the time they come to the first grade, sometimes they never catch up.”
The Denver Preschool Program is available to all income levels, but it appropriately offers the most financial help to the poorest families. In addition, the higher the quality of the preschool, the higher the tuition reimbursement is.
Voters in 2006 barely approved a sales tax for the program. Every $10 purchase in Denver includes a 1.2-cent tax for the preschool program. The tax is raising about $830,000 a month for preschool program tuition reimbursement.
Organizers have struggled to spend the money — not because of lack of need, but because they are simultaneously trying to create the program, publicize it and get kids enrolled in it.
Part of the complexity lies in the requirement that the preschool programs be of quality. That means they must be rated by one of several accreditation organizations. And if they’re not up to par, they must improve so families working through the program can enroll their children there.
Mejia told the council that there now are 141 approved preschool sites with 258 classrooms, according to the Rocky Mountain News.
He also told the council he hopes to boost enrollment in the program to 3,800 by August. That would be a huge leap from the 695 currently enrolled.
It took some convincing to persuade Denver voters to approve the program. Similar measures were defeated in 2000 and 2001. The support of voters comes with the responsibility to deliver. We hope those at the helm of the Denver preschool effort make good on the promises of the program.
