Anonymous wrote:There are more low income families in Ward 3 than there are DCPS preK3 spots.

Wait what?

There are more low income families in Ward 3 than there are DCPS preK3 spots.

Anonymous wrote:We live in Upper NW, in a tiny basement apartment. My husband and I both work and go to school and make less than $60,000 a year, combined income. So we are very appreciative that there is a free pre-K 3 option for our daughter. Not everybody in Ward 3 is "upper income"...

That's great, I hope you and your husband benefit from this. My husband and I also live in Ward 3, in a one bedroom apt with our 2 yr old DD. Our combined HHI is $100,000. We need this and I am so thankful that it may be an option for us.

Anonymous wrote:Do any of the PK3/4 lottery spots have means testing? This is just another free PK option for ANY city resident, no?

No means testing. Spots allocated by lottery although I think there is a preference for children who were already enrolled in the daycare/preschool. Here's a list of all 20 CBOs that are in the PK3/PK4 program.

http://www.myschooldc.org/find-schools/school-options-outside-my-school-dc

Do any of the PK3/4 lottery spots have means testing? This is just another free PK option for ANY city resident, no?

My understanding is that is has nothing to do with income:

Required Documents for Enrollment

Prior to enrollment in public pre-K in the community based organizations, parents must provide documentation to verify the child’s age and residency. Parent(s)/ guardian(s) also have to provide a current Health certificate and dental record for their child. Below are documents that are used for verification.

Age Verification

Residency Verification

Health Certificate

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WTF free private PK3 in Ward 3. That is so messed up. Sickening.

agree

Free public school in rich neighborhoods is just fine starting at age 5 but somehow “sickening” at age 3? GMAFB.

In a world with finite resources (and even DC has a limit on what it can spend) thinking through how much value there is to providing PK3 in a wealthy part of town when, IIUC, PK3 is still not universal in less wealthy parts of town is certainly a fair question. The reason we've added PK4 and now PK3 is there is a lot of evidence the earlier intervention leads to better outcomes for lower income kids - I'm not sure there are a lot of kids in Ward 3 who really benefit from this though it certainly saves their parents some money.

I also have real concerns about public monies going to a private pre-school.

There are more preschools / day cares who receive this money -- it isn't just Communikids.

In exchange for taking these funds the daycares / preschools have to agree to more stringent staff training, inspections and curriculum standards. On the whole it gets higher quality early education to more students, most of whom are low-income and at-risk.

I'm almost certain there isn't any means testing for these slots and given the location of Communikids and the transportation challenges a lot of lower income folks deal with it it strikes me as unlikely that a lot of these slots go to low income kids.

And now I wonder if meeting the more stringent requirements to get these funds won't result in higher costs for whoever is left paying tuition. We barely made it through paying for our kids daycare (and we are UMC so not complaining but when we had 2 kids in daycare we were paying like 35K a year) and I hate to think public monies in this case will raise costs for folks who don't get in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WTF free private PK3 in Ward 3. That is so messed up. Sickening.

agree

Free public school in rich neighborhoods is just fine starting at age 5 but somehow “sickening” at age 3? GMAFB.

In a world with finite resources (and even DC has a limit on what it can spend) thinking through how much value there is to providing PK3 in a wealthy part of town when, IIUC, PK3 is still not universal in less wealthy parts of town is certainly a fair question. The reason we've added PK4 and now PK3 is there is a lot of evidence the earlier intervention leads to better outcomes for lower income kids - I'm not sure there are a lot of kids in Ward 3 who really benefit from this though it certainly saves their parents some money.

I also have real concerns about public monies going to a private pre-school.

There are more preschools / day cares who receive this money -- it isn't just Communikids.

In exchange for taking these funds the daycares / preschools have to agree to more stringent staff training, inspections and curriculum standards. On the whole it gets higher quality early education to more students, most of whom are low-income and at-risk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WTF free private PK3 in Ward 3. That is so messed up. Sickening.

agree

Free public school in rich neighborhoods is just fine starting at age 5 but somehow “sickening” at age 3? GMAFB.

In a world with finite resources (and even DC has a limit on what it can spend) thinking through how much value there is to providing PK3 in a wealthy part of town when, IIUC, PK3 is still not universal in less wealthy parts of town is certainly a fair question. The reason we've added PK4 and now PK3 is there is a lot of evidence the earlier intervention leads to better outcomes for lower income kids - I'm not sure there are a lot of kids in Ward 3 who really benefit from this though it certainly saves their parents some money.

I also have real concerns about public monies going to a private pre-school.

NP. There is a big difference between asking a fair question and calling something "sickening".

Anonymous wrote:We live in Upper NW, in a tiny basement apartment. My husband and I both work and go to school and make less than $60,000 a year, combined income. So we are very appreciative that there is a free pre-K 3 option for our daughter. Not everybody in Ward 3 is "upper income"...

+1. And as long as there is no means-testing for access to public PK EOTP, there is no argument to be made for it to be restricted by geography.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WTF free private PK3 in Ward 3. That is so messed up. Sickening.

agree

Free public school in rich neighborhoods is just fine starting at age 5 but somehow “sickening” at age 3? GMAFB.

In a world with finite resources (and even DC has a limit on what it can spend) thinking through how much value there is to providing PK3 in a wealthy part of town when, IIUC, PK3 is still not universal in less wealthy parts of town is certainly a fair question. The reason we've added PK4 and now PK3 is there is a lot of evidence the earlier intervention leads to better outcomes for lower income kids - I'm not sure there are a lot of kids in Ward 3 who really benefit from this though it certainly saves their parents some money.

I also have real concerns about public monies going to a private pre-school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WTF free private PK3 in Ward 3. That is so messed up. Sickening.

agree

Free public school in rich neighborhoods is just fine starting at age 5 but somehow “sickening” at age 3? GMAFB.

Anonymous wrote:We can't spend the at-risk funding for at risk kids but OSSE's giving Upper Upper free preschool. Glad we got the priorities right.

Gross generalizations are unbecoming.

We live in Upper NW, in a tiny basement apartment. My husband and I both work and go to school and make less than $60,000 a year, combined income. So we are very appreciative that there is a free pre-K 3 option for our daughter. Not everybody in Ward 3 is "upper income"...

We can't spend the at-risk funding for at risk kids but OSSE's giving Upper Upper free preschool. Glad we got the priorities right.