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Wednesday, December 05, 2007 • BY JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger Staff

Gov. Jon Corzine's new school funding plan calls for the biggest expansion of preschool for low-income children in nearly a decade, but it's already raising questions about how districts will pull it off.

The plan, expected to be rolled out next week, includes a proposal to require -- and ultimately pay for -- full-day preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds in at least 100 low- and middle-income districts not currently providing it.

The proposal also would require wealthy districts to offer preschool to poor children attending their schools, with the state picking up the tab.

Preliminary estimates provided by the state indicate the program could enroll an additional 17,000 children within six years, at a cost to the state of $320 million.

Experts say getting these children earlier will assure better educational outcomes, but even supporters raise concerns about where they will put so many new students.

"We see the difference, a significant difference," said Red Bank Superintendent Laura Morana, who currently runs a full-day program for 4-year-olds. "But my first reaction is, 'Oh my gosh, full-day for 3-year-olds, too?' ... I don't have the space for half-day, let alone full-day."

Corzine's proposal amounts to a major expansion of a program already at work in the 30 poorest urban districts.

"This is the single best step we can take to address the needs of at-risk children in their future schooling," state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said yesterday.

Child advocates who have long lobbied for such a plan praised the governor's initiative.

"The evidence is clear: Preschool works," said Cecilia Zalkind, director of the Association for Children of New jersey. "We are very excited to see this in the funding formula."

Details of Corzine's proposal to revamp how New Jersey funds its schools began to emerge last week, and the Legislature plans to take it up before its current term ends Jan. 8. Corzine said he wants to focus much of the state's aid on districts with rising numbers of poor and immigrant students that previously have not fared as well under the current funding.

Even before its formal introduction, questions are mounting over the details of the preschool plan and the ability of districts to expand and house such programs. The proposal would allow districts to share the load with private preschool centers, but that would carry its own set of questions.

The proposal expands on a model in the state's 31 poorest districts, ordered by the state Supreme Court in 1998 in Abbott vs. Burke.

Under Abbott, about 41,000 students, approximately 75 percent of the eligible children in those districts, attend preschool. In addition, the state's early childhood grants fund half-day programs for another 7,000 4-year-olds in 101 non-Abbott districts.

Preliminary estimates provided by the state show that the new program would increase the overall number within six years to about 65,000 children at a cost of $850 million, or roughly $13,000 per child.

Phased in over time, the proposal would specifically require all districts in the lowest socio-economic categories to match the Abbott programs, encompassing about 70 districts from Atlantic City to Fairview in Bergen County.

In addition, any other districts with at least 40 percent of their students qualifying for free or reduced-cost lunch programs -- a commonly used indicator of poverty -- also would be required to create the two-year full-day programs.

Red Bank would be among those facing the new mandates, and Morana said there is no question that the 4-year-olds currently enrolled have made an easier transition into elementary schools, particularly immigrant children gaining a quicker mastery of English.

Districts expanding their programs could get some help from private centers, as the poorer urban districts have done, imposing the same standards of certified teachers, small class sizes and approved curricula.

"As long as you are providing the same kind of quality," said Davy. "I think in the Abbotts, the mix has served us well."

But she conceded that those partnerships would require massaging.

Somerville schools would fall under the new mandate, needing to expand from their half-day program for 4-year-olds. The district's superintendent wondered where she would find the room in buildings that are already taxed, but said she wouldn't want to look outside.

"We would prefer to do it ourselves, frankly," said Superintendent Carol Leary. "We have the staff, we have the intervention services ... Let's just say I'd be leery."

Others said such partnerships will be required for Corzine's plan to succeed.

"Districts need to stop being afraid of it," said Ellen Frede, co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research and the state's former early childhood education director. "There is almost no way they can do it without it, and the fact is it works."

Corzine's preschool plan raises eyebrows

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