A who’s who of Akron leaders vowed Saturday to support the Akron Public Schools Board of Education in its effort to expand pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) in the city.
“This is something we have to achieve as part of the community,” Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said, noting that Akron is the only major city in the state without a universal pre-K program.
The path to expanding early childhood education isn’t clear, but groups including the Greater Akron Chamber and United Way of Summit & Medina counties pledged their support for helping to get a program off the ground. Expanding pre-K was part of a new strategic plan that the district unveiled last month.
Pre-K Funding solutions vary, more research needed
Cities and counties across Ohio have funded early education in recent years by using levies, income taxes, their general funds and a combination of public and private funding, said Annie McFadden, the chief of staff, impact and communications, for United Way. She said more research still must be done on the cost of expanding pre-K in Akron, but there are good models in other cities.
“You can get creative,” she said. “What are the needs of your city?”
The demonstration of support came at the end of a daylong board retreat, where members of the Board of Education talked through communication methods, policy changes and the importance of using Robert’s Rules of Order. Board members said afterward they found a lot of value in the discussions.
The pre-K supporters, who called themselves the Akron Coalition, were led by David James, a former superintendent of the district who is now executive director of the Summit Education Initiative. In addition to offering support for a pre-K program, the group’s leaders said they wanted to support board members if they decided to bring a levy to voters to help close a funding gap.
“We’re here to be a resource to you,” James said. “If there’s a levy on the ballot at some point, we’d be more than happy to lend our support.”
Akron pre-K a priority for community leaders, with or without levy
Malik said he thought the community needed to move forward with early childhood education regardless of whether it’s part of a levy later this year. He said he’s had conversations with Gov. Mike DeWine about helping to fund a program, but Malik cautioned the school board that they didn’t “want the levy to be a Christmas tree you’ve hung too many ornaments on.”
Board Member Barbara Sykes said she worried that if pre-K wasn’t part of the conversation surrounding a levy, it would not pass. No decision has been made yet about whether the board will ask voters to help pay for expanded pre-K or any other programming with a levy.
Malik said expanding pre-K opportunities within the district could help keep students in APS by bringing them in as 3 and 4 year olds.
“This is really important for APS,” Malik said. “This is going to have to happen regardless. We can’t afford to not do this as a community.”
While there are private pre-K programs in the city, and discussions about a program have assumed that they would continue to be part of the education landscape, Akron Superintendent Michael Robinson said he thought it was important that APS be part of any expansion plan. He said he would eventually like to see a program for early education from birth to 3.
The district currently can’t fund a universal pre-K program, he said, but he would like to see an expansion of APS’ offerings.
“It would truly, truly transform our entire city, our entire community,” Robinson said. “I’m a very big proponent of it.”
He said after a period of tumult at APS, it was heartening to see the board working with community members — and important for others in the community to know it was happening.
Steve Millard, president and CEO of the Greater Akron Chamber, said that group was looking at polling to see how a levy might be received and what opinions are about the school district.
“We want you to be successful because we want our city to be successful,” he said.
