COMMENTARY | You can help get the UP NOW campaign on the November ballot
Educators — from early childhood to college faculty — and economists support free, universally available, high-quality, play-based preschool for every child whose family wishes to enroll them. Preschool significantly raises high school graduation rates and increases earnings while reducing racial disparities, unemployment and incarceration. Every $1 invested in universal preschool adds $9.45 to the economy, says a national expert , economist Timothy Bartik.
We’ve endorsed the campaign for Universal Preschool NOW! (UP NOW) , which is gathering signatures for the November 2020 ballot. UP NOW is one of two campaigns aiming to put a measure on the ballot this fall to dramatically expand public preschool programs. Both campaigns have been in the works for over two years and have significant community support.
The major difference between the two proposals is whether the program will be big enough for everyone, as our public schools are, or only capable of serving up to half of the children whose families may be interested. Our funding mechanism is estimated by Oregon’s Legislative Revenue Office to raise roughly twice the amount being considered by the other campaign — enough for our program to be truly universal.
Universal programs are far more financially sustainable than means-tested or small targeted programs. Fifty-five years after Head Start was created, it is still so underfunded that it reaches only 30% of eligible children in Multnomah County — and university researchers say even that figure is overestimated .
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Importantly, universal programs don’t purposefully segregate children by income from an early age. Children from lower-income families make the greatest gains in high-quality, mixed-income classrooms. So do BIPOC children (Black, Indigenous and people of color).
“Evaluations of high-quality universal pre-K programs indicate that children who stand the most to gain from participating in high-quality early learning — namely African American, Hispanic, and low-income children — do in fact tend to make the strongest gains in achievement at kindergarten entry,” according to the National Institute for Early Education Research . UP NOW creates a best-practices, high-quality program for all of our children.
Teachers see the enormous impact of preschool attendance in children’s social and emotional readiness to thrive in school. That’s why Portland Public Schools teacher representatives voted unanimously to endorse the Universal Preschool NOW! campaign. It is also endorsed by teachers in the Parkrose and Reynolds districts, as well as faculty at Portland State University and Portland Community College, and the local units of the Oregon Retired Educators Association.
Not only does quality preschool markedly increase high school graduation rates ; it reduces special-education costs, reduces the need for children to repeat a grade level and raises the odds of attending college.
Key to quality is raising the poverty-level wages of preschool teachers and aides, to retain experienced, skilled and dedicated people who now can’t afford to stay in a field they love. Our ballot measure ensures continuing education; a pay ladder recognizing experience, skills and education; pay for teachers comparable to elementary school teachers; and a wage floor of $18 an hour, rising in the future with Portland’s minimum wage.
Universal Preschool NOW! proposes two years of free, year-round, high-quality preschool, up to five days a week for all Multnomah County children whose families want to participate. It prioritizes communities with the greatest needs in a phased roll-out. The measure provides for a choice of languages and settings, including small, in-home providers public schools, community centers and cooperatives, with both culturally inclusive and culturally specific options and multi-generational classrooms. And it includes professional development for both workers and owners of small preschools.
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Through a marginal income tax on only the top 5% highest-income households, UP NOW raises enough money, during the early years devoted to planning and a phased roll-out, to build a reserve fund capable of stabilizing service levels during economic downturns, as well as pay for an expansion of our existing preschool capacity.
Please visit upnow2020.org to sign the petition to put Universal Preschool NOW! on the ballot. Multnomah County has the resources to do it. It’s time to invest in our children and our future.
Suzanne Cohen is president of the Portland Association of Teachers. Angie Garcia is the owner and executive director of Escuela Viva, serving children from 6 months through 5 years old. Mary King is an economics professor emerita at Portland State University. Street Roots is an award-winning, nonprofit, weekly newspaper focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. Our newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Learn more about Street Roots . Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today .
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