A toolbox-full

Last week, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran this story about a daycare bill that has been approved by the Senate.

“— The Senate on Tuesday gave initial approval to a program aimed at providing preschool for children in the St. Louis Public Schools.

Sen. Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, added the program to a bill that creates a quality rating system for day-care centers.

Smith's program would provide preschool for children in school districts that are not accredited by the state Board of Education, such as the St. Louis district.”

Approximately a thousand students would be served under this program, capped at $5 million a year. Half of the available funding would go to private organizations to contract with the public schools.

Legislators see this as a way to help turn the St. Louis school district around, and I think it sounds like a viable tool—one of many that have been proposed this legislative session now that three districts in Missouri are unaccredited (Wyaconda, Riverview Gardens and St. Louis City).

Studies have shown that students in day-care and pre-schools that focus on preparing them for school are much more likely to graduate and succeed. Unfortunately, I’ve also seen evidence that in poor-performing public schools that added benefit is lost when schools fail to build on those new skills.

Building from the ground up is a great idea, but there should be an equal focus on helping students currently behind, because they represent an entire generation that we can’t afford to lose.

One tool we need is the special needs legislation currently pending a vote in both the house and senate. Missouri families have little to no options if they can’t get the right response from their IEP teams. We’ve done a good job so far of responding to an historical lack of services for students with special needs, but with this legislation we can move that service from good to great.

By giving parents a choice about what education is appropriate for their child, we’ll be able to see the benefits of early intervention which is key in helping children with autism learn. We’ll see more students mainstreamed after targeted, short-term treatment, and countless other benefits in the lives of individual students. We can offer this aid to families with special needs children, and there is no reason good enough not to pass the scholarship tax credit.

Let’s add this tool to our educational toolbox!