FYI from BSF, 01.21.22
Universal Agreement
For a change of pace this week, we have made the newsletter more readable: we updated the design a bit, and we are spending some time on something people like and generally agree on.
Kindergarten.
More specifically, its younger sibling "preK," schooling that starts at age 4.
Mayor Menino wanted to expand preK. Mayor Walsh wanted to expand preK. Mayor Wu wants to expand preK. All three major contenders for governor (Healy, Allen, and Chang-Diaz) will make early childcare a central policy plank. The academic benefits are clear. It helps the economy and it is progressive. It has bipartisan popularity. For many families, preK is a necessity. Boston is home to many talented experts and effective organizations in early childhood education.
With such longstanding support and newfound urgency, surely one would expect Boston preK to be universally available and high-quality.
Yet, about one of three Boston four-year olds are not enrolled in school-based preK seat.
Even if you read the long profile of preK in Alabama earlier this week through “Athens of America” rose colored glasses, the numbers don’t lie. Despite attention and incremental gains over the past 8 years, Boston families still lack the preK access families have in Mobile now. Or in New York City. Or in Vermont.
What will it take to make changes here? The early education landscape is incredibly complex, so let’s focus on three big drivers.
1. Understanding the Role of Boston Public Schools (BPS)
BPS is the largest school system in the city, serving nearly 69% of preK-12 Boston students. Yet, BPS only serves approximately 43% of preK students. With declining enrollment and supportive research for its programming, Boston preK expansion is an obvious strategy.
It just hasn’t panned out that way.
After some gains, the disruption of the pandemic now has BPS preK enrollment increasing by an average of 0.7% annually over the past decade. Even more concerning, the BPS kindergarten enrollment has plummeted during the same period. One would expect that number to follow preK enrollment up the ladder, as more families enter and stay in the system. That has not happened, implying a lowering ceiling for student enrollment.
Although enrollment is stable, a draft analysis of demand data shows that the waitlist for preK seats in BPS has decreased by 50%. Parochial, private, and charter school preK enrollment has also increased over the past decade.
2. Consistent, Quality Supply and Demand
The decision was made during the Walsh Administration to not pursue universal preK primarily through BPS, rather, to include “community-based” seats in private institutions (often with public subsidies) to achieve what is called a “mixed delivery” model.
There are benefits. This leverages existing community assets, and potentially provides consistency, proximity, longer care hours, etc. that are very important to families.
There are also drawbacks. Access is not centralized like in a typical school system or government service. Seats are not guaranteed to transition from preK to kindergarten (read that fine print). Private centers can close, and a lot more have in the past two years.
It is also difficult to ensure consistent access to quality. It requires coordination across hundreds of entities, and extensive training and resources. Past reports have shown big swings in quality access by neighborhood and background.
This is a challenge within BPS itself; the same draft analysis of demand data shows that as much as 40% of the preK seats in the lower tiered schools in BPS are empty.
3. Money
Funding for this approach to preK in Boston was estimated to be $56M per year. This would cover staffing expansion, professional development, coordination efforts, etc.
This never materialized. In the spring of 2019, an investment of $15M - over 5 years - was announced by then Mayor Walsh.
There are cities and states leveraging federal stimulus funds to expand universal preK - New York City may use its funds to start its schools at age 3.
But in Boston, it would require a sustained funding model. With the fate of President Biden’s agenda and Governor Baker’s successor unknown, it is not clear where that would come from.
Unlike so many issues in education, expansion of preK in Boston is widely popular and achievable. Careful planning, attention to quality, coordination and communication, and increased funding could get us there.
Who is going to take the lead?
Reopening in Boston, MA, and Beyond
Announced Tuesday, with guidance from Governor Baker and Commissioner Riley, districts now have the option to distribute home tests to staff and families that opt in, dropping “test and stay” and relieving overwhelmed contract tracers. Policy here.
Some public health officials praised the move as accepting the next stage of the pandemic. Some advocates rejected the concept, claiming this will lead to underreporting of cases and demanded more and different safety measures. Even before this policy shift, some Boston students, supported by the BTU, walked out to protest school safety last Friday.
Families are still stuck in the middle, trying to decide who is right.
Cases continue to drop, across Massachusetts and in schools. School-reported cases dropped by 31% for students and 35% for staff over the past week (also down by 21% and 37% in Boston, respectively).
That does not mean schools are out of the woods on staffing issues yet.
The disruptions in higher education are very mild by comparison - 85%-90% of colleges in the country are back in session, in-person.
Other Matters
It was another bit of a Point/Counterpoint week. The state needs to intervene in Boston. No, that sort of intervention is likely ineffective and wrong. Boston’s comprehensive high schools need more support. No, Boston’s comprehensive high schools need to be overhauled. The city took the former position, with the newly proposed Charlestown innovation school voted down Wednesday night.
“The Embrace,” Boston’s MLK monument, will be completed one year from now. It is worth noting that in 1965, on the Boston Common, on the very site of the memorial, King led a massive demonstration, numbering 10,000 people.
The main topic? Schools.
