Good Dreams for Poor Kids

A county commission’s brave vote Thursday to work toward free preschool for every child whose parents desire that is like one of those you-finish-the-story fairy tales. We know the beginning, but the ending is up for grabs. Will the knight slay the dragon or be eaten? Will the lost children find their way home through the woods or end up in the witch’s oven?

So it is with the decision by Los Angeles County’s Proposition 10 Commission--created after voters approved a 50-cent-per-pack hike in the tobacco tax in 1998--to commit $100 million to expanding existing preschools and child-care centers for 3- and 4-year-olds and helping underwrite new ones. A solid preschool education gives children a leg up on learning to read and makes them more likely to graduate from high school and go to college. For the estimated 100,000 local children whose families are too poor to afford preschool, a happy ending will depend on the commission’s smart planning and insistence that every penny be accounted for--and used wisely.

During the next six months, as the commission decides exactly how to spend this money, it should build on the knowledge and long experience of the leading institutions. Crystal Stairs and Children’s Institute International are two that have helped design and expand preschool programs locally. On a far broader scale, the U.S. military, with a push from Congress, runs a worldwide network of first-rate preschools and care centers for children whose parents are in uniform.

Planners also must hold local groups and institutions accountable for the Prop. 10 money they may ultimately receive. If they don’t, the commissioners may find themselves boiled in the caldron of public opinion. And they must be creative, leveraging available state and federal dollars for Headstart and welfare-to-work training to prepare more teachers and serve more children.

Voters earmarked the tobacco tax for activities that would improve the health and development of children through age 5. It generates $700 million a year--although revenue will decline as the number of smokers falls off--that is distributed among California’s 58 counties based on birthrates.

The universal preschool initiative represents the second major initiative from the local Proposition 10 Commission. Last month, the group voted to put aside $100 million to provide health insurance for babies and preschoolers from low-income families over the next five years.

The commission is smart to focus on getting young children ready to learn and keeping them healthy. Think of this tobacco money as fairy dust that could make poor parents’ dreams for their children come true.