Story update:
This story was updated to correct the spelling of ConxusNEO and to clarify they were the organization that conducted a workforce survey.
The cost to educate 671 Akron Public Schools pre-Kindergarteners this year is $5.5 million, a figure that would be expected to at least double when the district goes from half-day to full-day pre-Kindergarten, as Superintendent Michael Robinson announced Monday would happen this fall.
His announcement, which took members of the Board of Education by surprise, drew support from community members who agree with Robinson’s conviction that expanding early learning options for students is imperative for building a strong foundation for learning. But people also questioned how the district would fund the plan when it has already committed to cutting close to $17 million in the coming school year.
The district provided no estimates for the cost of the program, but Stephen Thompson, the CFO and treasurer, said he thought the need for twice as many teachers — because half-day programs allowed each teacher to teach two classes — would double costs. On top of that, he said, moving from half-day to full-day preschool at Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools, where he previously served as superintendent, led to an increase of students by about a third.
“It significantly grew,” he said.
Thompson said because APS was planning cuts to its budget, any new expenditure had to be considered a reallocation of resources. Additionally, the full-day pre-K proposal could require the district to leave open one or both of the early learning centers it agreed to close last summer in its Long Term Operational Plan. The annual cost savings from closing Stewart and Essex ELCs was expected to be $345,000 each, money the district would have to find elsewhere.
Robinson said he had no plans to increase the budget, but he didn’t want to wait to move forward with a full-day pre-K program. Enrollment, he said, will begin this week.
“We have not gotten into that,” he said of the monetary questions. “I don’t know what we’re going to cut to make up for this.”
Pre-K funding comes from local taxes and grants
Of the $5.5 million currently spent on pre-K, $1.9 million is grant-funded and the rest, $3.6 million, is paid for by taxpayers through the general fund. Mark Williamson, a spokesperson for the district, said most of the grant funding is from federal Early Childhood Education dollars.
Jim Mullen, the president and CEO of United Way of Summit and Medina counties, said it was clear that moving from part-time to full-time preschool “sincerely benefits” students’ ability to learn. He said he fully supports an expanded program, though he said the details “are a little sparse.”
“I’m not going to ding Dr. Robinson and his team for making that a priority,” Mullen said. “There’s a cost that comes with that. Typically, they’ll find a way to fund the thing they’ve prioritized.”
Mullen is part of a group of Akron elected officials, executives and others who are working to make free preschool available for every child in the city. The APS proposal is not that; half-day pre-K costs $75 a month, but is paid on a sliding scale based on income. Williamsonsaid 70% of families pay nothing. Those who do not pay to attend pre-K will continue not to be charged.
Mullen said research his team did just before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, in 2020, showed more than 2,500 4-year-olds in the city. At the time:
- 342 of them were APS students
- 615 were part of a Head Start program
- 130 went to preschool at the YMCA
- About 500 attended other local preschools.
- About 1,000 4-year-olds were unaccounted for
In 2020, United Way estimated expanding pre-K would have cost $2,900 per child. Mullen said expanding preschool offerings would both educate more students and free up caregivers who otherwise aren’t able to work or participate in other activities because they need to care for and transport their children.
Lack of childcare resources hurts workers
In April 2022, a quarter of the 2,400 respondents to an Akron-area survey said they had been pulled from the workforce because of concerns about childcare, said Michelle Collins, the executive director of the workforce intermediary ConxusNEO which conducted the survey. Among women, that number was a third.
Steve Millard, the president and CEO of the Greater Akron Chamber, said having childcare via full-day pre-K gives parents “the ability to come off the sidelines and work.” He called a more robust pre-K program fundamental for the district.
“It’s a big system; there’s always things you can balance to get the things you want done, done,” Millard said. “Many of us believe this has to happen for the benefit of our community.”
School Board Member Rene Molenaur said she felt like she spent just as much time waiting in line to drop off and pick up her son from half-day preschool last year as he spent in the classroom. Her son’s Kindergarten teacher, she said, has commented to her that he would have benefitted from being in full-day pre-K. Molenaur said she’s a proponent of full-day pre-K at APS.
At the same time, she’s concerned about the effect of the expansion on the district’s bottom line and said she’d like more information about how the program would affect APS’ long-term operations and planning. In addition to making cuts, APS is planning to put a levy on the ballot this fall to pay for district operations and is considering ways to pay for a new North High School.
“Financially, where does this put us?” Molenaur asked.
Robinson said he does not need board approval to move forward with full-day pre-K, but the school board is responsible for approving the district budget. He said he’s determined to expand pre-K after listening to residents about their education needs.
Akron mother see full-day pre-K as a positive
Susan Sintic, whose Kindergartener Eloise went to half-day pre-K at Fairlawn Lutheran Church, said she’d consider sending her two-and-a-half-year-old, Verity, to full-day pre-K through the school district when the time came. She said she might have sent her older daughter, too, if she’d known about APS’ offerings.
“It’s an interesting idea,” she said. “My initial thought, I feel like it’s a positive idea.”
As an early childhood educator, Akron Education Association President Pat Shipe said she believes the benefits of all-day pre-K are “enormous.” But she said she’s concerned that there is “an absence of a realistic plan” regarding how the program will be implemented and paid for.
Teachers are licensed to teach preschool through third grade, so there is flexibility to move them among classrooms. But a proposal must be made to place teachers in classrooms for the 2024-2025 school year — a process that is already underway. With decisions about closing the early learning centers still in flux, too, there’s no knowing where teachers might be placed.
“All-day preschool is a wonderful idea,” Shipe said. “To say we don’t even know if we’re going to close Essex or Stewart? There’s just too many details that don’t appear to be looked at or established. It’s too complex a program to start with so many unanswered questions.”