Three Central Florida counties have joined a number of Florida districts sidestepping state policy
These counties are trying to find ways to circumvent state policy passed by our elected representatives.
competing needs: Better education or making it easier for welfare recipients to find and keep jobs.
The stated assumption is that the public schools provied better education than privaate schools. My own experience as well as most studies insist that that is not true. Almost all experts outside the public system and teachers unions agree that private schoold provide better education.
Schools want to put more low-income children into their preschool classes -- taught by certified teachers -- to prepare them for kindergarten and give them a jump-start on reading.
Again the assumption that "certified teachers" do a better job is unsupported. One other point about this is the question of what is a "certified teacher"? The state has mandated that even private pre-schools must have teachers with a CDA degree, and these schools are working towards that goal. This is a form of teaching certificate, so it should qualify its holder as a "certified teacher". Even some counties, such as Seminole, allow teachers with "only" a CDA to teach their pre-K classes, so this is a red herring.
The state wants to put more children into day care -- with lower-paid workers who are not teachers
This statement is false; private school teachers may be paid less than their public counterparts, but they are still teachers!
"We are unwilling to take these teachers out of the classroom," said Cynthia Muller, a Miami-Dade district administrator. "The school district did not want to compromise quality."
So, this administrator is willing to flount the law to satisfy her erroneous perception that public school education provides better quality education?
But school officials in Orange and Osceola said they tried to work with the coalitions but decided that new state rules would have forced them to lower their standards.
How does sending kids to private pre-schools that provide a superior education force these counties to "lower their standards"? My answer: it doesn't, the opposite is true.
Osceola also disliked a new rule requiring both parents to be employed in order for their children to receive state funding for child care.
This rule simply states that if a two-parent family has one parent who does not work, the child should stay at home with the child. IMHO, this is the best place for any pre-K child.
Cronon, from the state partnership, said parents, particularly those at home, have the primary responsibility of taking care of their children. He also said that school officials are missing a crucial point of the readiness law -- to help families take care of themselves.
Well stated, Mr. Cronon!