Posted on 11/21/2006 1:14:47 PM PST by radar101
Located in the midst of a large military housing development populated by young families with small children, Bay Point State Preschool should be bursting at the seams.
NADIA BOROWSKI SCOTT / Union-Tribune There's lots of room to play at the publicly funded Bay Point State Preschool, which can fill only one of its three classrooms. Income eligibility rules prevent military families from taking advantage of the school, even though it was built with them in mind.
It's not for a lack of demand. The problem is that income eligibility rules prevent many military families from taking advantage of the school, within walking distance of their rented townhomes.
Families in the 500-home military development are far from wealthy. Households consist mainly of junior enlisted service members whose spouses in many cases are stay-at-home parents.
The families exceed the income criteria because housing allowances provided by the military are counted as part of their pay, even though allowances go directly to the companies that built and manage the project.
“I don't see (any) of it. I don't see a penny of that,” said Jeff Gutierrez, a submariner who lives at the Village at NTC with his wife, Robyn, and their 4-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.
Gutierrez hoped to send his son to the preschool less than two blocks from their home, but his family didn't satisfy the income guidelines. His $1,648 monthly housing allowance put them over the limit by about $400. His salary is about $2,800 a month, before taxes.
Because Bay Point is a state-funded preschool, rules are set by the California Department of Education. Such preschools are free for eligible families. Ineligible families have to pay $88.55 per week for three hours a day.
Bay Point opened last year. It was built by the San Diego Unified School District with the military families in mind.
The developer saw the school as an amenity for tenants. Residents did not become aware of the income eligibility issue until the preschool began registering students in the months leading up to its November 2005 opening.
When military families started signing up their children, dozens were turned away, much to their surprise.
Becky Pantoya was among them.
“It really depressed us when we found out we couldn't put our kids there,” said Pantoya, a mother of two.
Pantoya and the Gutierrezes have found another free preschool program in City Heights – about 20 minutes away.
The school district and Lincoln BP Management Inc., which manages the housing development, unsuccessfully lobbied state officials and lawmakers to change preschool eligibility rules for military families.
State officials feared that making more military families eligible would displace other lower-income families from preschools statewide. They also expressed concern about the cost of serving more eligible families.
“Changes that might increase eligibility for military families would do the same for non-military families in similar situations,” the state's education department wrote in a letter responding to the management company's complaint about the situation facing its tenants. “This increase in eligibility could result in other, lower-income families not being served,” the education department said.
The state did raise the income limits in July to reflect an upward trend in the state median income.
Under the new guidelines, a family of three could make as much as $43,536 a year, up from the prior ceiling of $35,100. The income limit for a family of four went from $39,000 a year to $48,372. The median household income in the county last year was $56,335, according to census data.
“If the housing (allowance) wasn't included or eliminated, we would be overloaded with families,” said Tami Colón, a teacher at the preschool.
Colón said the housing allowance remains the main reason why military families are disqualified.
“Without that we would have a waiting list,” she said. “We have two open classrooms. We can easily expand.”
The preschool provides a morning session and an afternoon, each three hours long, with a capacity to serve 24 children in each class. Thirty of 46 children enrolled there are from military families. The rest are from civilian families who live outside the housing development.
Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña, D-San Diego, who tried unsuccessfully to introduce legislation this year to fix the eligibility problem for military families, plans to pursue the matter further.
Joe Kocurek, Saldaña's press secretary, said that before seeking any legislative solution Saldaña's office will study the potential cost of making more military families eligible.
“We confronted resistance because of the cost statewide,” he said.
Helen Gao: (619) 718-5181; helen.gao@uniontrib.com
FAMILY SIZE | MONTHLY INCOME
2 ---$3,386
3 ---$3,628
4 ---$4,031
5---- $4,676
I wonder why government bureaucrats are not hunted for sport sometimes.
"Households consist mainly of junior enlisted service members whose spouses in many cases are stay-at-home parents."
OK, then why the need for pre-school?
Ok, I know I am going to get THRASHED for this...but I don't disagree with this. (And I am not only a former military brat, but also a former Marine wife.) If there are income guidelines, then they should follow them (I disagree with the income guidelines, but that's just me.) Of coure their housing allowance counts- even if they don't see it, they don't have to pay rent or mortgage.
Well, BAQ is income.
If those military families were working for Wal-Mart instead of Uncle Sam, they'd have to pay their own rent. It's fair to include the rent that Uncle Sam pays on their behalf as part of their income for these purposes.
When I was in Enlisted Dormatory Quarters, I was free to spend every penny of my meager paycheck because I lived in the dorm and had a meal ticket for the chow hall. If I had to live off base, I'd get BAQ and BAS on top of my base pay.
$1648 + $2800 = $4448/month (not including other allowances like sea pay, food allowance, etc.). The $1648 is tax free. This probably equates to $60,000+ for a like "civilian salary." Not a huge amount but not poverty either.
The simple way to do it( Is it beyond their capacity to think?) is to charge each military family a nominal fee if they exceed the income level. That puts a whole legal spin on it, because one could do the same stateside if it is put on a space available basis. Isn't the idea to utilize fully the rooms available? But it is ironical that many of these rooms stateside are being filled by children of illegals.
One group produces, the other group takes.
Thus, I propose a two-tier concept, with a wider net for the military, and a teeny tiny one for the welfare-collectors.
I am so getting tired of people who can't get something for free and then whine because they can't freeload, military or not.
I think the limits for income would make them more equal to working class than welfare takers. Now, when the ex was in the Marines in the early 90's, we were a lot more broke than these people (thanks, Clinton)!
It's a blessing in disguise. The longer kids stay OUT of government schools, the better it is for everybody.
These folks *can* put the kids in school
Ineligible families have to pay $88.55 per week for three hours a day.
Just not for free.
What blows me away is a family of 4 can pull in 43K and still get state welfare benefits.
Flame off, I retired out of the USAF and while active duty, lived in some pretty expensive areas. My wife did not work till the youngest was in 3rd grade.
We just got by on less. (No new car, big TV, etc, etc)
May not be for everybody, but it did work for us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.