I'm the teacher who posted before. I think a big part of the issue here is that people expect someone to pick up the slack for them in terms of childcare. I'm a single mother and I pay a lot for before and after school childcare for my DD and I paid a lot for daycare before she started school. At no point did I think, "Gee, I really think the government needs to help me out here." I made the choice to have a child and made sure I had the funds to raise her. Why should my taxes go to subsidize other people's poor financial planning?

Well, in France they have subsidized day care starting at six weeks:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/opinion/sunday/catching-up-with-france-on-day-care.html?_r=0

I think the "line" is drawn by the parents' outside the home work hours -- when parents are expected to be at their job, someone else is expected to be providing childcare. If we had longer FMLA-type leave or paid maternity/paternity leave, or even more part time professional, career-track jobs, we would have less demand for 45 hour a week childcare. But instead, we have more and more parents working 40+ hours a week, and more and more interest in professional childcare.

Anonymous wrote:Why don't we just have the state or district in this case adopt the kids from birth through age 18? We can equip schools with Murphy beds in the hallways and we already feed the kids free breakfast and lunch. Why not just add dinner too? I am a teacher and while I think it is important for students to come to school ready to learn, I think we need to draw the line somewhere. After this, will we then add free pre-k for 2 years old? For toddlers?

Amen.

Why don't we just have the state or district in this case adopt the kids from birth through age 18? We can equip schools with Murphy beds in the hallways and we already feed the kids free breakfast and lunch. Why not just add dinner too? I am a teacher and while I think it is important for students to come to school ready to learn, I think we need to draw the line somewhere. After this, will we then add free pre-k for 2 years old? For toddlers?

Anonymous wrote:hello,
I thought preschool in DC starts at age 4. Does it start at 3?

Yes. Preschool 3, PreKindergarten 4, Kindergarten 5.

Anonymous wrote:In our neighborhood school (Janney), pre-k is by lottery as well. How is it "universal" if not everyone gets a spot?

There are enough spots for all 3 year olds to have a PS 3 seat and PK 4 seat. You are not entitled to your inbounds DCPS until K.

So, if you want your 3 year old to go to Garrison, for example, and there are spots. You can. Or you can wait until K.

In our neighborhood school (Janney), pre-k is by lottery as well. How is it "universal" if not everyone gets a spot?

In certain areas of the city (less affluent, originally) there is preschool for 3 year olds, by lottery.

hello,
I thought preschool in DC starts at age 4. Does it start at 3?

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone else back up the point flagged by 20:22? We just went from pricey daycare to pre-k, and I've kind of assumed the educational side would be similar-to-worse, because I'm comparing the pricey daycare more to private school. But maybe that's totally offbase?

Time will tell, somewhat, but I'm curious what others' experiences are...

Of course that's off base. A teacher in a public school, whether it's PK or high school, has to have a college degree (most have master's or are working towards a master's) and be certified. The teachers at my daughter's day care had associate's degrees at most.

Love this article. If preschool was free from age 3 in VA, I think we would already have kids. Too bad I can't convince DH to move into DC

Can anyone else back up the point flagged by 20:22? We just went from pricey daycare to pre-k, and I've kind of assumed the educational side would be similar-to-worse, because I'm comparing the pricey daycare more to private school. But maybe that's totally offbase?

Time will tell, somewhat, but I'm curious what others' experiences are...

Cute article.

This is a great point:

Unexpectedly, another big benefit soon emerged: My son was learning much more at preschool than he had at day care. That’s because — surprise, surprise — his public-school teachers are exponentially better educated and (see any causality here?) far better compensated. The average starting salary for a D.C.P.S. elementary-school teacher, even at the early-childhood level, is just over $50,000. The average salary of a day-care provider is $19,300.

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/in-d-c-where-universal-free-preschool-is-becoming-the-norm/