Universal Preschool - California StyleAs Political Pressure Builds, Montessorians StruggleMark AndersonThe most star-studded of the nation's many universal preschool (UPS) campaigns is underway in California-of course. Film director and actor Rob Reiner has been that state's most prominent preschool advocate for many years, enlisting a roster of entertainment celebrities and business leaders into the effort to guarantee preschool opportunities to 4-year-olds and eventually all 3-year-olds in the state. And although the six-year-old push suffered a setback this spring when Reiner & Co. were forced to withdraw a controversial $1.7 billion funding referendum from the November ballot, leaders say the momentum hasn't slowed. Legislation outlining the new UPS rules and standards was on its way to conference committee in August, and around the state demonstration grants and projects are expanding. But as the groundwork is laid for a comprehensive system that may eventually enroll 250,000 additional 4-year-olds in California preschools, the Montessori community has been largely absent. "I don't think I've met anyone representing Montessori educators in any of our meetings throughout the state," said MaryAnn O'Sullivan, executive director of Preschool California, a non-profit coalition of UPS backers. In San Diego, Montessori representatives did take part in early meetings of San Diego Cares, that city's state-backed effort to add free preschool offerings. But they quickly stopped attending, said Candace Mendoza, head of the new organization. Mendoza was director of early childhood programs in San Diego United School District until she retired last year, and in her judgment, Montessori and other private programs must be part of the UPS system if California hopes to meet its preschool promise. "There are terrific Montessori schools all up and down the state," that will be needed to meet the great new demand for educators and facilities. But she acknowledges that those programs could run into obstacles, unless the standards governing the UPS system are written with an understanding of the Montessori curriculum and teacher accreditation. "We can't get that understanding unless [Montessori representatives] are at the table," she said. Conversations with a handful of California Montessori educators indicate that their absence may be due largely to a simple political fact: the Montessori community hasn't organized itself with an eye toward influencing the state educational system. For instance, as the discussions about state standards for preschool teachers and programs were grinding forward during the last year, no Montessori lobbyists were watching the meeting schedules, attending hearings, or calling for letters and testimony from Montessorians at critical times, according to Norman Lorenz, a Montessori teacher and trainer in Sacramento, and a founder of the California Montessori Project, a five-campus Montessori charter school enterprise. "Those deliberations are endless and they're usually inconclusive," Lorenz said. "And when they finally decide it's time to fish or cut bait, we're not there. We're all out running our own businesses." The consequences of that failure showed up in the details of the Reiner referendum, which was developed with strong backing and considerable input from the state teachers' union, the California Teachers Association. Under the referendum plan, all teachers in participating programs would have been required to become local public school employees, and funding for administration expenses at participating preschools was also denied. "Those of us in the private school sector were outraged, and we said so," Lorenz said. The referendum's rules would have isolated Montessori outside the UPS program or "made us subservient to the local district." O'Sullivan agreed that the referendum planners made a major tactical mistake. "They essentially wrote that behind closed doors, and gave the teachers association whatever worked best for them." But despite that gaffe, the canceled referendum added momentum to UPS, she said. The size of the initiative and its broad support, which included backing from early childhood organizations such as California's Head Start and the California Association for the Education of Young Children, "made the possibility seem very real to many people," O'Sullivan said. Her organization is already working on an initiative campaign for the 2006 ballot, and one of its key principles will be to utilize good, existing preschool programs, whether they're private or public, for-profit or nonprofit. Another of Preschool California's principles is to establish high standards for the UPS programs and teachers. Under their developing guidelines, BA degrees would eventually be required for all lead teachers in UPS programs (preschool teacher salaries would also increase to be commensurate with public K-12 packages), and developmentally appropriate and effective curricula would be required. Some of those guidelines will be hammered out in legislation that is moving through committees this summer and that may be heard in the state assembly early next year, and some may be taken up by a blue ribbon panel on standards mandated by the legislation. But those efforts will be shaped by the participants, O'Sullivan said, and she urged Montessori educators to take part. "It will be a shame if we come up with something that doesn't support the great programs that are operating. That's not what we want to do." Although Lorenz hasn't been participating regularly in those UPS meetings, he and his colleagues at the California Montessori Project (CMP) have been laboring to strengthen the affiliation between Montessori schools and public systems-on terms that make sense to Montessorians. "We've been working hard to show that K-8 Montessori competencies align with California Department of Education content standards," Lorenz said, carefully documenting CMP's curriculum and providing quantitative comparisons to the California contents. "And our content standards surpasses the state's at every age level." Those efforts may eventually ease state teacher licensing and school assessment concerns for more Montessori programs. They may also help the integration of Montessori into the preschool system, but Lorenz said CMP has another preschool idea in mind. The school plans to add 3- and 4-year-olds to its enrollment when it seeks a new state charter in two years, an effort that could provide a side-door entrance into the UPS system. Pamela Riggs, another influential Montessorian who's listened closely to the UPS debate, remains ambivalent about pursuing greater affiliation with a public preschool system. "Our state's educational system is already in crisis. Why would we want to give them more authority over children's lives?" asked Riggs, a longtime Montessori school leader and teacher trainer in the Bay Area. Riggs said that 37 years as a Montessori professional qualifies her as a lifelong advocate for what she calls "lower-case" universal preschool. But she's skeptical that a preschool system run by a state agency that must weigh also the concerns of a powerful teachers union and a spending-wary legislature can guarantee those opportunities for all children. She points to California's embrace of class-size reduction five years ago, an education reform it has largely abandoned in the wake of budget shortfalls, and she asks why Californians should expect leaders to be more steadfast in their commitment to a costly preschool system. "Do we really want to go on that roller coaster ride again," initiating educational reforms only to drop them when revenues decline. Even with those misgivings, Riggs agreed that Montessori representatives should take part in the planning for UPS, a movement that she predicted would eventually be implemented. "We should be at the table to make sure that what we have developed over the years is safeguarded, and that it can be part of the larger offering." But accomplishing that means being willing to commit time, travel and money to a role that Riggs and most other Montessorians say takes them away from where they want to be, the classroom. Update: Florida On July 9 Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida vetoed universal prekindergarten legislation that state lawmakers passed in May. The package laid out the framework for a network of private and public preschools that would be free and available to all 4-year-olds in the state by fall 2005. Bush's veto followed a bitter debate during the legislature's regular session about curriculum standards, teacher licensing and funding for the new initiative, which is required by a constitutional amendment that voters adopted in 2002. But it's not clear what Bush will ask for from legislators during a November special session that he's expected to call, according to Mary Thomas, the owner of 10 Montessori schools in Florida and Georgia. Thomas organized an ad hoc coalition of Montessori providers last winter to lobby for rules that would accommodate the Montessori curriculum and protect the interests of private operators. She said in mid-August that the next several months give her group time to make their case to more legislators. "But this can be a double-edged sword," Thomas warned. One of the changes Bush may seek would lengthen the mandated prekindergarten day from three to four or more hours. Thomas said the legislature had initially refused to pay the higher price tag on the longer days, which added lunch and recess costs, too. Preschool activists also speculate that he may attempt to add new accountability or testing requirements. |
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