Oregon operates the second-most-expensive public preschools in the
nation, at a cost of more than $8,500 per child for a half-day, Head
Start-like program, according to a study released Sunday night.
Partly because of the high costs, the state has to limit the number of children who take part to about 7,200, or about 7 percent of all 3- and 4-year-olds in the state.
When judged by the rate of 4-year-olds who get state-paid preschool, Oregon ranks 30th among the 40 states that offer programs.
The state's new early learning director, Jada Rupley, says Oregon chose to offer a proven, high-quality program modeled after Head Start to the neediest 3- and 4-year-olds in the state, and says that decision, made more than 20 years ago, was the right one. No other state models all its preschool programs after Head Start.
But Rupley said Oregon is behind the curve nationally when it comes to adding other, less-costly programs to serve many more 4-year-olds who need something extra to get them ready for kindergarten but who may not need all the comprehensive services of Head Start.
She said Gov. John Kitzhaber revamped the way that early learning is directed in Oregon and hired her in hopes of helping more preschoolers before they get to kindergarten. Serving only 10 percent of 4-year-olds in state-funded prekindergarten doesn't cut it, she said.
"The governor is so committed to overhauling the early learning system so we can reach more kids and get better results," she said.
Rupley, hired in September as Oregon's first director of early learning services, said she is not sure how other states manage to offer half-day preschool programs at an average cost of about $3,850 a year, or less than half of what Oregon pays.
But the study, "The State of Preschool 2012," by the National Institute for Early Education Research, offers some clues.
Virginia ranks 19th in per-child costs among the 40 states that offer free preschool. And it spends about $3,800 per child, making it representative of the average state.
Oregon kids in state-funded preschool cut and color and sing and read stories and practice brushing their teeth -- and yes, they also lie on rugs a lot, at least when photographers from The Oregonian visit.
Unlike Oregon, Virginia does not provide a nutritious meal as part of its preschool program, the report says. Nor does it send a teacher or other qualified preschool staffer to a child's home several times a year to coach parents on ways to help improve their child's behavior, nutrition, happiness and academic readiness.
Still, Oregon's program isn't perfect, the report says. It recommends that every preschool teacher be required to hold a college degree and that every assistant teacher have to prove his or her qualifications for early childhood education. Eleven states do so, but Oregon does not, it says.
Nationally, the picture for early childhood education was bleak in 2011-12, the report says. For the first time, states spent less on preschool than the year before. The effect was that preschool enrollment failed to grow for the first time since the institute began tracking it in 2001, stalling at 28 percent of the nation's 4-year-olds.
And spending per child dropped precipitously, falling below $4,000 for the first time in a decade.
Oregon drew praise for bucking one of those trends. Kitzhaber and the Legislature increased pre-K funding by $11 million in 2011-12, allowing programs to serve 1,260 additional children.
-- Betsy Hammond