Article from KUSA TV Denver, 12/1/2003
Funding hike to put preschoolers back in class
Written By: Jeannie Piper, Web Producer
© KUSA TV, Denver, CO
DENVER - The classroom door is opening again for some Denver preschoolers who got shut out this fall when their parents couldn't afford to send them to school.
Denver Public Schools plans to increase funding for its Early Childhood Education, or ECE, program, which began charging tuition this year. Because of its financial woes, the school district now requires parents who don't qualify for assistance to pay $185 a month to send their children to preschool.
Details of the plan to add more funding to the program will be finalized over the next few weeks, said school board member Elaine Berman. The money is coming from a $20 million mill levy increase passed by voters in November that earmarked $3.5 million to expand all-day kindergarten and ECE programs.
"We believe very strongly that ECE is critical, particularly for low-income families who may not have the language development in their homes," Berman said. "When they do not attend ECE programs, they are more likely to fall behind their other classmates."
A majority of Denver preschoolers qualified for full or partial grants in the 2003-2004 school year, she said.
Still, a small group of kids lives barely above the cutoff. Those preschoolers didn't make it to school, and their absence led to a drop in the district's overall enrollment.
It was unclear how many parents would have put their kids in ECE classes. However, officials said overall enrollment, from preschool through 12th grade, was down by 128 students - mostly due to a cut in state funding for early childhood programs.
The plan to put money back into the program brings new hope to Lisa Stocker, whose son, Robert James, doesn't go to school. Robert James didn't qualify for free tuition at Traylor Elementary School, even though money is tight at their home. His father is self-employed and Lisa can't afford to put her son in day care while she works.
Stocker is doing her best to help her son with his alphabet, numbers and word recognition so he'll be at the same academic level as his peers when he starts kindergarten. But she says it's no substitute for a real teacher in a real classroom.
"They need that preschool so they're not behind," said Stocker, 34.
Sherry Moore considers her daughter Jordan one of the more fortunate 4-year-olds at Traylor. Their family can pay Jordan’s tuition, although Moore says they sometimes scrape to make ends meet.
Moore’s daughter and Robert James are friends. Jordan’s situation drove the writer and mother of two to put down the novel she’s working on and tap into a possible revenue for ECE: a fundraising book called “Princess Jordan and the Horse.” All proceeds from the book will go toward Traylor Elementary’s ECE program.
“That child may end up being something really important someday and they may not have that opportunity if they’re behind education-wise,” said Moore, as she walked her daughter and a couple of neighborhood kids to school last week.
Moore wrote the story years before she found herself on a crusade to help Robert James, but didn’t publish it.
“I’ve always wished I could do something positive with it and the opportunity came up,” she said.
Her story “Princess Jordan and the Horse” is about a little girl who finds a horse with the help of a talking rabbit, owl, elephant and other animals who point her in the right direction.
Like Princess Jordan’s adventure, Moore finds herself going to neighbors, parents, teachers, publishers and even preschoolers, asking for help. Jordan’s classmates drew all the pictures for the book and she says Lifevest Publishing is cutting her a deal that will cost around $5 per copy. Moore is doing all the promoting herself and asking for pre-orders. The book is expected to come out after Christmas.
While money from Moore’s book won’t trickle in soon enough to help Robert James this year, there could be enough to get him started next year. He may even qualify for a partial scholarship when the school district adds more funding to the program his mother says he desperately needs. For Robert James that would be a storybook ending.
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