Parents left in preschool limbo after TCAPS cuts Great Start program

Jun. 14--TRAVERSE CITY -- Shaving cream was everywhere. Spread and smeared all over the kitchen table and all over the three lively young boys surrounding it.

Numbers and shapes were "expertly" etched into the lathered-up cream -- not normally meant for solving math problems or drawing circles, triangles and squares.

But Tuesday at the Nolff house was a mixture of education and silly, messy fun to help 5-year-old Olyver, 4-year-old Elias and 2-year-old Lucas keep the learning going as the school year wound down.

Parents, like Cammra Knolff, will soon shed the title of homeschool teacher -- a role they've had to play since in-person instruction was prohibited amid COVID-19 shutdowns.

But Knolff isn't too worried about this year, anymore. She's worried about next year, and those worries have nothing to do with the coronavirus.

Her concern comes after the recent decision from TCAPS Interim Superintendent Jim Pavelka to eliminate the Great Start Readiness Program from the district's early childhood education offerings. That cut, along with the layoffs of five teachers associated with the program, was made in an effort to save the district an estimated $125,000 in the upcoming school year.

"Out of all the programs that Traverse City has, I think the last one they mess with is something that is super vital to our children's education," Nolff said. "It's something that could potentially ruin the district."

Olyver went through GSRP, the free state-funded preschool program, at Blair Elementary under the watchful eye of Mike Vincent -- better known as Mr. Mike to his students. Vincent was one of the five teachers laid off in the board's decision last week. Nolff credits him for bringing Olyver into Great Start after she had all but decided to homeschool.

First grade is just around the corner for Olyver. Nolff said he's already at the math level of a third grader, is more confident as a student, knows how to interact well with his fellow students and is quite emotionally literate for a soon-to-be 6-year-old.

Nolff attributes all of that to GSRP.

"I wouldn't have ever changed that for him," she said.

Budget over benefits

A study out of the University of Chicago, published May 28, examined the long-term effects on education and employment outcomes of children involved in Head Start, the federally funded preschool program. The results found that Head Start, which is for lower income families than Great Start, has "positive and statistically significant effects on years of education and wage income." The study also found the effects are strongest for women, blacks and Hispanics.

Yvonne Donohoe McCool, the director of early childhood for the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District, said a separate 2016 study of GSRP showed there were differences in on-time graduation rates, school retention along with gains in both reading and math scores. She said they also see differences in poverty and incarceration as well as decreases in special education identification for those that attend high-quality preschool.

"Children who attend GSRP tend to arrive at school having more skills in place than their non-GSRP socioeconomic peers," Donohoe McCool said, adding that more than 70 percent of the Great Start programs operate in school buildings, so children and families have relationships with teachers and an understanding of what being at school is like.

Elias was set to attend the TCAPS program in the fall, and Nolff is not sure how to provide her 4-year-old the same level of education.

"He's not going to get the GSRP experience and be able to learn himself. I don't know if he's going to do great in kindergarten -- and that's what really scares me," Nolff said, the last words catching in her throat.

One option is moving out of the TCAPS district and sending her sons to different schools. Nolff said she will not hinder their education because of financial cuts, and she knows at least five other families that feel the same way and are ready to pack up and leave.

If those families do leave to find other GSRP options, the funnel from preschool to the TCAPS K-12 system gets a little smaller. Each K-12 student that leaves reduces the district's state aid by $8,111 in per-pupil funding.

Between a rock and a hard place

Some families don't meet the low-income requirements for Head Start, which serves 3 and 4 year olds. That program's poverty service rate for qualified families is set at 100 percent, which is an annual income below the national poverty line. That poverty line for a family of four, for example, is $26,200, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Families that qualify for GSRP are at the 200 percent poverty service rate, which is double the annual income of a family at 100 percent.

Donohoe McCool said last week the elimination of GSRP at the largest school district in northern Michigan could be "devastating."

"GSRP was always aimed at hitting another mark," Donohoe McCool said. "We see working families attending our programs that are really trying to do well, but still need that help. Those are the families that are going to be underserved."

Mitch Cosler, the single father of a 4-year-old girl whom he calls the "candle in the lighthouse" of his life, said he is on the low end of mid-income families. He also said his daughter, Charlotte, is classified as high risk because of the family's "rocky start."

Cosler said he had to "fight and plead" to get Charlotte accepted to GSRP at TCAPS because he could not afford preschool. He said the program helped Charlotte thrive, both socially and academically.

"We have to invest in our future," Cosler said. "Raise taxes. Charge me double for gas. But don't take away the future of children who need an extra boost to their education."

Pavelka said district officials are "looking at every program" in an attempt to decrease spending, adding that "this isn't the only difficult decision that's going to have to be made in the next few months."

During the May 14 TCAPS board meeting, Pavelka was adamant in his expectation that TCAPS not "piecemeal" cuts to the budget, adding that -- if TCAPS goes the "piecemeal way" -- the most vulnerable and at-risk students will bear the brunt of the budget decrease.

The Great Start Readiness Program serves at-risk students and lower-income families that have difficulty affording regular preschool or child care but do not qualify for the federally funded Head Start.

"When you have budget cuts, poor kids don't stand a chance," Pavelka said in May.

On Monday, Pavelka rationalized the decision to nix TCAPS' involvement in GSRP -- for now -- by saying that other programs in the district would have to be cut if not GSRP.

"You're going to sit there and you're going to have to stare at the the sixth- and seventh-grade music program -- that say costs you ($125,000) -- and you're going to have to say it's got to go," he said. "That would be on the block."

Trustee Erica Moon Mohr took exception to that explanation during the meeting.

"This is the foundation of children's learning, that first five years of life," she said. "Do I think seventh-grade band should be cut? No, I don't. But if I had to compare it to to early childhood, I would absolutely say that -- hands down, no questions asked."

Outside the area

The state allocated nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars -- $243.6 million in 2017-18, $244.6 million in 2018-19, $249.6 million in 2019-20 -- to Great Start Readiness programming in the last three school years, according to Michigan Department of Education Spokesperson Bill Disessa.

Available half-day slots in the TCAPS Great Start program have decreased the last three school years -- dropping from 256 in 2018-19 to 224 next year -- and with that so has funding. TCAPS receives $3,625 for every half-day slot, a figure that has stayed the same since 2014 and as district costs continue to increase.

TCAPS was set to receive $865,600 from the TBAISD for the upcoming school year, and staff costs alone were at $801,000.

Donohoe McCool said the TBAISD will look to allocate that funding to other providers.

TBAISD worked with 18 subcontractors in 2019-20 to offer GSRP around the five-county region, but Donohoe McCool said TCAPS was the largest provider to the Traverse City base at more than 100 children -- while other subcontractors offered as few as five full-day slots.

Of those 18 subcontractors, Donohoe McCool said only TCAPS has indicated it will not run the program in 2020-21.

Other school district GSRP providers in the area include Benzie, Kingsley, Buckley, Forest Area, Alba, Frankfort, Glen Lake, Kalkaska, Mancelona and Suttons Bay. But none of them can offer the capacity of TCAPS, and most are in "fringe communities" that would cause transportation issues for some families in Traverse City, Donohoe McCool said. One of the few to offer GSRP in the area is Munson Medical Center, which operates on the Northwestern Michigan College Campus.

Traverse Heights Elementary is the first school that jumps to mind for Donohoe McCool when she thinks about that transportation barrier. Traverse Heights serves families that are economically disadvantaged, and Donohoe McCool said there isn't the option of public transportation to places like Kingsley or Buckley or Lake Ann.

"Those will be families that struggle to access those programs that they're eligible for," she said.

Eliza Roseblatt, whose children attend Blair Elementary, said her son benefited greatly from riding the bus to school every day with his sister during his time in GSRP. She said it allowed him to start understanding that "school routine."

"How are these at-risk families supposed to afford that?" she said. "Most can't afford or take the time out of their day to transport their kids to different schools or wherever else in town. It might be impossible."

Filling the void

Pavelka said if TCAPS can partner with another provider at no cost to the district, TCAPS could provide space for classrooms, food service and transportation. But that hinges on a provider -- or providers -- stepping up to fill that gap.

TCAPS Associate Superintendent of Student Services Jame McCall said Monday the district "highly values childhood education" and that they hope to partner with an agency in the community to run the programs in TCAPS buildings.

Donohoe McCool isn't sure just how likely it is another provider will partner with TCAPS. She said she does not have any indication, at this time, of any community-based organizations or collaborative partners with the TBAISD that have expressed a willingness to partner with TCAPS.

Such partnerships often don't last more than between 1-3 years, Donohoe McCool said.

"As enrollment or needs change within a district, early childhood programs that aren't district operated tend to be on the chopping block for space," she said. "Space in Traverse City is a premium."

Rosenblatt does not understand why TCAPS officials are not being more transparent about the elimination of GSRP and what other programs officials considered cutting. She feels GSRP never should have been on that chopping block.

"They say they're committed to their K-12 program, but how are their kids going to succeed if they don't have those building blocks," Rosenblatt said. "To postpone that, especially for those kids at risk, they're going to get lost."

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