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Poor Ralph Wiggum got his heart broken on live television; you could actually pinpoint the second when it ripped in half. For Multnomah County’s universal preschool initiative, the rejection has been more gradual. The Preschool for All program needs existing child care providers to participate. As WW reported last week, several large providers have qualms (“In Timeout,” Oct. 23), especially regarding the program’s provision that it retains rights to intellectual property produced during the contract. Will preschools choo-choo-choose that deal? Here’s what our readers had to say:
Kevin Palmer, via Reddit: “So, instead of building anything with the pile of money they have, they are essentially trying to buy existing seats at existing preschools. Wouldn’t that possibly displace existing students or create a crunch of available seats across private day cares in the region?”
Wiser, via wweek.com: “It would have been nice to have heard from parents who are desperate for affordable, quality preschool and from those who are already part of the program and participating successfully.”
Kate Johnson, via wweek.com: “From what this article said, I can see absolutely no benefit whatsoever for any business to participate in this program. Unless you’re so desperate and failing already that you need the subsidy, which obviously costs much more than it’s worth. The intellectual property rights proviso is ridiculous, entirely unnecessary, and deeply ethically questionable. It would make me doubt the integrity of that agency. Just that alone would make most people tell them to forget it. This was clearly pushed through without any adequate planning or collaboration with the partners necessary to its success. This is just one more example of the complete and utter failure of Multnomah County government to do anything effectively. I’m a Democrat, but these folks show us that stupid comes in blue too. What do you want to bet this program will be a catastrophic failure where they will waste all the money and provide little to nothing of benefit?”
halfgopnick, via Instagram: “All schools should be free.”
Hazel M. Wheeler, via wweek.com: “As a former preschool teacher/owner, I’m absolutely confused as to why my content I create for my program becomes their intellectual property. This is baffling. For some styles of teaching, we create curriculum specifically tailored to the group we have and their interests. So now, all of my documentation becomes the county’s, whether it’s a discussion of holes, or evaluation of meeting developmental benchmarks? And wouldn’t that be a violation of the confidentiality I would have had with my clients and their children? I worked for a day care long ago which had subsidized placements (through unemployment/JOBS program/health and human services), and this was never a requirement.”
Aestro17, via Reddit: “Goddamnit, why is the county so allergic to actually building anything? I can understand trying to get buy-in at the start of the program, but if the entire thing is built around two-thirds of the seats being ones that already exist, that’s not really solving the scarcity issue that makes preschool prohibitively expensive.”
olyfrijole, via Reddit: “The administration of PFA seems like an onerous journey through a sea of self-imposed red tape. I’m not saying they should just be cutting checks willy-nilly, but if they’re interested in providing actual child care, they should probably simplify the program.”
ernaannb, via Instagram: “Hey, WW, now do a story on the successes of the program. And how life changing it has been for so many families.”
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