Find funds for what matters most

Try herding 20 or so 4-year-olds by yourself all day.

Dare ya.

It's bound to be challenging under the best circumstances. Young children can be energetic, impulsive and demanding of individual attention.

So it seems baffling that the Fort Worth school board would vote for all-day pre-kindergarten with a teacher -- but no assistants -- in each of 207 classrooms.

Trustee Carlos Vasquez was the only board member to outright reject that configuration.

Here's the thing, though: No one, including the administrator who presented that as an option, wants to leave pre-K teachers without backup or an extra pair of hands.

But the funding that has sustained vital educational programs is shrinking, the Legislature keeps talking about slicing instead of supplementing and school boards are being bombarded by pleas not to abandon effective initiatives.

Something has to give.

It shouldn't be assistants for pre-K teachers.

Since 1985, Texas has paid for districts to provide half-day pre-K classes, which are available to 4-year-olds who are disadvantaged, homeless, English-language learners, foster care veterans or from military families. In 1999, the state started offering competitive grants for districts with low third-grade reading and math scores to develop all-day programs.

By combining the half-day allocation, a $4.3 million state grant and federal stimulus money, Fort Worth has provided all-day pre-K for more than 4,400 students at a cost of $18.4 million this year.

But the state grant and federal funding are expected to go away next year, with the district receiving about $10.5 million as its half-day allocation. To continue pre-K as is, with a teacher and aide in every classroom, the district would have to come up with almost $8 million somewhere.

What the board approved Tuesday was an imperfect option: Continuing all-day classes without aides at a cost of $13.7 million. That means having to find only an additional $3.2 million, possibly through cutting elsewhere in the budget or dipping into reserve accounts.

Several board members stipulated that they were supporting the no-assistants option only with the understanding that federal Title I money could be diverted to restore the aides.

Designating Title I funds for pre-K assistants might help -- but it's another imperfect option.

Title I money is a supplement for schools with many low-income students. Fort Worth is receiving $32.8 million this year. A percentage must go to services at schools that don't meet adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind law; some of the money is directed to critical needs determined by a district advisory committee. Individual schools get the rest, with their staffs deciding where it goes.

Chief Academic Officer Michael Sorum said one principal is already considering stretching federal funds to hire pre-K assistants on an hourly basis, mainly for hectic mornings.

He said administrators are also making major cuts in the central Title I office, which should free money for other uses.

But if the assistants are important -- and they are -- they shouldn't be left to scrambling and juggling by administrators and principals in hopes of cobbling together enough funds. Some schools might not receive enough Title I money for all the aides they need; some might have more immediate concerns.

High-quality pre-K has been called "one of the most cost-effective educational investments the state can make." Aides contribute to that quality.

The board should stop protecting less essential expenditures and make sure that the final budget designates enough money to put a teacher and assistant in each pre-K classroom.

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