In North Carolina, Campaign To Save Preschool Goes Down To The Wire

On April 5th, Michelle O'Reilly will make her final plea for the children of Charlotte-Mecklenberg schools. She'll ask the County Commission to reconsider its massive proposed cuts to Bright Beginnings, a preschool program that helps struggling children get ready for kindergarten.

At the meeting, she'll present the hundreds of signatures gathered online at Change.org and by hand by community supporters. She'll let the Commissioners know that without Bright Beginnings, the community will suffer.

"Reading confidence and reading success is a very big predictor of high school graduation. And graduation rates have a direct correlation with incarceration," says O'Reilly, a Bright Beginnings teacher. "We can make children prepared to be strong readers and confident learners, as opposed to leading a life of crime."

And new evidence has just surfaced, showing the marked success of children who've gone through the program. Duke University just released a study showing that counties that got more funding from the state for pre-K programs, like Charlotte-Mecklenberg, which used that funding for Bright Beginnings, have higher test scores and lower special education rates in third graders.

"These findings provide the most rigorous evidence yet that investments in these early childhood initiatives generate substantial benefits for all the children in the counties that receive these funds, even children who were never enrolled in the early childhood programs," said Helen Ladd, professor of economics at Duke.

O'Reilly was elated by the findings, especially because a debate has been raging in the school system as to whether Bright Beginnings is effective or not. The county had initially started tracking students who went through the program, but then stopped, so concrete results had not been available.

In addition, the NAACP has met with officials in Charlotte-Mecklenberg Schools, proposing ideas to close the budget shortfall and save programs for underprivileged students and teacher's jobs.They endorsed an idea put forth by Commissioner Vilma Leake, that the county give the school district a $10 million grant to fund Bright Beginnings.

"CMS can do anything they want to," said NAACP President Kojo Nantambu.  "Something has to be done to make sure we can save jobs."

In addition, Crossroads Charlotte, an organization that tries to build trust and social capital in the city, convened 75 groups of residents, in barbershops, churches, and community organizations, all around the city to talk about what they cared about for city priorities. Collectively, the groups listed pre-k funding as 5th on their list of 18 city priorities.

"We want to protect the most vulnerable people in our community first (children, the elderly, disabled, those in poverty) and we want tough impacts distributed fairly," reads Crossroads 2011 Get Real report.

With a Bright Beginnings waiting list of over 1500 students, and proposed cuts meaning only half as many seats in the program, Michelle O'Reilly is determined to save the program, and with it, provide an opportunity for students at risk to become confident, successful learners.

"These kids are not in a position to do anything but fail in kindergarten," said O'Reilly. "To me, personally, the biggest thing with that is when they leave us, they have confidence. They see themselves as learners."

Michelle will present her signatures to the Board of Commissioners on April 5th, and the school board is expected to make their decision at their April 12th meeting.

"This is truly a situation where every single person counts. If I could talk to every single person in Charlotte, I would," says O'Reilly.

Will you sign her petition and show your support for quality early education for kids in Charlotte-Mecklenberg? Tell the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners: Please Fund Bright Beginnings!

Photo credit: woodleywonderworks