A Call to Action: Proposed New Rules Could Badly Damage Spring Branch's Pre-K Program: Write to the TEA Today!

At our Board's October 20, 2008, meeting, we discussed the possible negative ramifications of losing the current $3 million Pre-K Expansion Grant Spring Branch has received for the past 8 years from the  Texas Education Agency.  The bottom line is that without the Grant funding, it will be very difficult if not impossible for Spring Branch to continue our highly regarded full-day Pre-K program that serves over 2000 students.

On Thursday, the Texas Education Agency published the proposed new Rules concerning the grant funding, and in short, under the proposed new Rules, not only is our grant funding at significant risk, but in order to qualify for the grant we will have to drastically modify our fully-developed, content rich curriculum.  Neither of these outcomes is acceptable, and as a result, this post is a call to action to ask our community and all others who care about maintaining the integrity of quality Pre-K programs in Texas to write to the Texas Education Agency to change the proposed Rules so successful programs like ours are rewarded rather than punished. 

You can download a draft letter to the Texas Education Agency for editing by clicking  this link:

Letter to TEA Concerning Prekindergarten Early Start Grant Program.doc

(This is a MS Word document). 

Email your comments and letters to the Texas Education Agency at [email protected].  The deadline to submit written comments to the Texas Education Agency is December 1, 2008.

Below are the details of the problems I see with the proposed new Rules.

Defunding Success

The statute cited by the Texas Education Agency to support the proposed new Rules state the following as the basis for awarding grants:

In awarding grants under this section, the commissioner shall give priority to districts and open-enrollment charter schools in which the level of performance of students on [the the 3rd grade TAKS test] is substantially below the average level of performance on those assessment instruments for all school districts in the state.

In other words, preference is to be given to failure rather than to success.  In the past, the TEA has issued grants based on successfully implemented programs, and has not punished successful districts like Spring Branch.

The new Rules establish a three tiered system. 

Tier 1 grantees, who will receive "the highest percentage of available funding, are those districts "that have not participated in the Pre-K grant and "whose student performance on [the 3rd grade TAKS test] has been substantially below the state average for the last three consecutive years."

Tier 2 grantees, which would include Spring Branch, are those districts that have previously participated in the Pre-K grant and have demonstrated improvement on the 3rd grade TAKS test for the last 3 years.

Tier 3 grantees are those districts that have previously participated in the Pre-K grant and have been substantially below the state average on the 3rd grade TAKS test for the last three consecutive years.

Tier 2 and 3 grant funds are not specified beyond the statement that "A percentage of available funding, as determined annually in the grant application, will be awarded to Tier 2 (and 3) grantees."

Shockingly, it is possible under the new Rules to fail your way into the grant funds.  A Tier 2 grantee who does not receive the funds for 3 years can apply as a Tier 1 grantee "if the school district's performance on the [3rd grade TAKS test] is substantially below the state average . . . ."  So if Spring Branch does not get grant funding for the next 3 years, all that we must do to then qualify is miserably fail our students.  That is simply unacceptable.

Drastic Changes Required to Qualify for the Grant

Spring Branch has spent decades developing a rich, robust curriculum that has proven to be very successful for the students in our community.  The proposed new Rules mandate significant damaging changes to this curriculum.

First, the new Rules mandate that public school districts must enter into "school readiness integration partnership" which mandates a collaboration between public school Pre-K programs and Head Start providers, college or university early childhood programs, and/or providers of private for-profit or nonprofit licensed child care services.  (As an aside, the mandated use of public dollars to support for-profit providers sure sounds like an end run around the Legislative mandate against vouchers).  The new Rules presuppose that quality programs exist and that these programs would want to partner with public school districts.

Far more troubling, though, are the following 2 additional mandates.

First, the new Rules require that "each grantee must provide a prekindergarten program . . . that is aligned with the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines."  These Guidelines, which the Texas Education Agency's website say are "voluntary," are not as well developed as the curriculum being used in Spring Branch today.

Second, the new Rules require each grantee to develop a "sustainability plan" that "must include . . . participation in the school readiness certification system."  That system is the one developed by the State Center for Early Childhood Development, about which I have blogged extensively.  (See prior posts here, here, here, here, and here.  As with the Guidelines, participation in the school readiness certification system is supposed to be voluntary.  Indeed, the legislation cited by the Texas Education Agency to support this requirement specifically states that "the [school readiness certification system] shall be made available on a voluntary basis . . . ."

Conclusion

The new Rules will potentially devastate successful programs like Spring Branch's that have a profoundly positive affect on student success.  I urge you to write to the Texas Education Agency and express your concerns about these proposed funding and curriculum changes.

Comments

[Sophia Iqbal]

Dear TEA,
Please reconsider the decision to stop funding for the pre-K program in SBISD. It is vital for the Title I schools especially and the at-risk students who need pre-K for life skills, nutrition, academics and socialization in a safe and productive environment. It is crucial to their success in the future to give them a strong foundation. Please don't pull the base foundation from under their feet literally! We desperately need this program now more than ever with economic times and both parents working having less time for students.
Sincerely,
Sophia Iqbal