Cincinnati Public Schools: Tax Levy includes preschool expansion proposal

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Local voters could make history at the ballot November 8, by expanding preschool.

Supporters say it's a major step towards long-term poverty reduction in Cincinnati. Opponents say it's too much cost for the taxpayers to bear.

Issue 44 on the Cincinnati ballot includes one of the most ambitious preschool expansions programs in the United States as well as money to add programs and prevent layoffs in the city school district. Preschool is not free school unless people are very low income and qualify for government assistance. But for most low and many middle income people preschools can cost hundreds of dollars a month putting it out of reach.

If Issue 44 passes it's a property tax hike. Access to preschool would expand significantly under the Preschool Promise.

Northside parent Elizabeth Hopkinds said, “For us as a city it means we are raising the standards for all children.”

Hopkins and her husband, Andrew, have two young children, Ezekial and Zyla. Mom works part-time. Dad is in graduate school. Preschool could cost $6,000 a year per child. That’s Money the Hopkins' don't have but if Issue 44 is approved middle and lower middle income families could get tuition assistance to cover most of the cost.

Preschool Promise has been scaled down. Originally the goal was universal preschool for all 3 and 4-year-olds. Now, it's a sliding scale based on family income; projected average subsidy, $4-$5,000 per child. The goal is to enroll 4,000 youngsters over the next five years. The money could be used at private preschools as well as public.

Terri England at New Horizon Child Care Center said, “If we have children who are kindergarten ready, going to school they'll not only be ready for kindergarten but all the way through.”

While Preschool Promise has gotten most of the attention, about two-thirds of the $48 million raised per year would go to Cincinnati Public Schools. It's been eight years since CPS has gotten a levy increase, enrollment has gone up. That's good but it also means higher costs. CPS dollars would go for staff, supplies, guidance counselors, neighborhood school curriculum improvements, and technology. Like 17,000 computers for state-mandated online tests.

CPS Superintendent Mary Ronan said, “If the levy fails, all of our schools and departments would face cutbacks, because we can't continue to have increased enrollment and have to hire staff and at the same time you're working with less money. So something would have to give, and every department and every school would be touched.”

Originally the idea was to have two separate levies, not to expand preschool and one for Cincinnati Public. But those two levies were combined because the fear among the backers was if you had two separate levies with higher total costs they both could lose.

The anti-tax group COAST hopes the combined levy does lose. The group, which traditionally opposes levies, says the tax increase cannot be justified, neither academically nor financially.

There are more than 60 groups endorsing the levy including sometimes-rivals like the Chamber of Commerce and the AFLCIO. The $7.93 million property tax hike would cost another $277 dollars a year per $100,000 of home value.

Just a reminder this is a Cincinnati School District ballot issue. If people live outside the city school district boundaries and they want to vote on preschool expansion, pro or con, they can't.