Implementation Update

Want a short resource that answers questions about PFA implementation? Download PFA Fast Facts here.

You can also download a PDF version of this Implementation Update here.

 

 

Preschool for All came from a unique community-based process where more than 100 people came together to create a vision for Multnomah County children and their families. This thoughtful policy-making took two years and included educators, parents, and preschool providers alongside leaders from business, school districts, higher education, philanthropy, culturally specific organizations, and healthcare. At its core, Preschool for All means that families can choose a preschool option that is joyful, culturally responsive, and developmentally appropriate, regardless of their income.

 

Preschool for All is on track – with 728 seats in Year 1, almost 1,400 seats in Year 2, and building to universal preschool access in 2030!

 

Implementation takes time, and Preschool for All has been nimble and responsive as we build a new system, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that deeply damaged the child care industry. We’re making thoughtful investments that will create future capacity, alongside investments in preschool seats today. Preschool for All is on track to meet its short- and long-term goals and we are excited to share updated details of our work so far!

Free Public Preschool Meets an Urgent Need in Our Community

Preschool plays a crucial role in early childhood development, providing a foundation for cognitive, social, and emotional growth. Research consistently shows that quality preschool experiences enhance school readiness, leading to improved academic outcomes and increased chances of long-term success. Preschool helps build a strong educational foundation, providing children with engaging learning activities and fostering essential social skills.

Preschool improves life-long health, educational, economic, and social outcomes for individual children and their families, and it also provides a high rate of return on the public’s investment: for every dollar spent on high-quality preschool, the community sees a return of between $7 and $10. Investments in early childhood education programs reach far beyond individuals and families, saving money on costly interventions later in life and increasing the entire community’s economic prosperity for generations to come.

 

Preschool benefits children and families, caregivers, employers, and the community as a whole.

 

There is growing income inequality locally and nationally, and Multnomah County is an expensive place to live. In addition, Oregon consistently ranks as one of the most expensive states in the nation for preschool. Before Preschool for All, public dollars only provided preschool for the families in deepest poverty, reaching under 20% of Multnomah County’s 3- and 4-year-olds. Quality preschool has been out of reach for many families, and far too many children in our community have been denied the crucial and well-known benefits preschool provides.

Preschool opportunities have significant intergenerational effects on education, employment, and health. When parents have affordable and reliable care, they can further their career, devote more time to other responsibilities, and pursue higher levels of education. Maternal workforce participation increases with preschool access, making programs like PFA effective and immediate anti-poverty strategies. Parents benefit from the support and expertise of their children’s preschool teachers, learning about healthy child development, how to nurture social-emotional growth, and ways to continue children’s learning at home.

Employers also benefit from investments in early childhood care and education. The high cost of market-based child care pushes qualified staff, especially women, out of the workforce. Parents with reliable and affordable child care tend to miss less work, have increased productivity, and have lower levels of stress overall.

Our community recognized the need for – and huge benefits of – public preschool, and in November 2020, passed Preschool for All with a vote of nearly two to one. The initiative is funded by a personal income tax of 1.5% to 3% on income above a threshold applying only to the highest-income earners who live or work in Multnomah County. This tax went into effect on January 1, 2021, and as written in the ballot measure, the rate is scheduled to increase by 0.8% in 2026. 

 

Serving Families

Multnomah County’s Preschool for All is funding almost 1,400 seats in 82 preschool programs around the county this year. 

Pilot Site Providers are reimbursed $15,750-22,050 per seat depending on their calendar (year-round or school-year) and schedule (full day or school day). The largest share of this funding goes toward paying staff and providing benefits. It also covers the other costs involved in running a preschool site, including rent and utilities, insurance, food, and learning materials.

This map shows the number of Year 2 seats by zip code. Darker pink represents a higher number of seats. PFA will grow over time, increasing the number of children it serves each year. As new providers are added, the geographic diversity of sites will also increase. With full universality in Fall 2030, all three- and four-year-olds whose families would like to enroll them will be able to participate in a free public preschool seat through PFA, Head Start, or Preschool Promise.

As Preschool for All grows to universal, our outreach and application processes prioritize children who have the least access to quality, affordable preschool options. Over the last two years, we have successfully enrolled families from our priority populations.

 
 Below are details about children enrolled in Preschool for All for the 2023-24 year: 

 

Accessibility & Family Choice 

Family choice is a key value in the design of Preschool for All. Families in Multnomah County want to be able to send their child to preschool in a setting that feels comfortable to them, reflects their culture, communicates in their language, and meets the needs of their schedule. Preschool for All created a mixed delivery system, which means one that includes home-based family child care, child care centers, and preschool in school buildings. A mixed delivery system provides options that work for a wide variety of families, while also investing in small child care businesses, many of which are owned by Black and Brown women and women who speak languages other than English.

We’ve established an online application portal and funded culturally specific agencies that utilize their experience, community trust, and cultural and linguistic expertise to provide outreach to Preschool for All priority populations. PFA-funded navigators at four Family Connector Organizations – Self Enhancement, Inc.; Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization; Latino Network; and Native American Youth & Family Center – help families through the application and enrollment process, and also connect PFA families with other needed community resources.

 

Seventy-six percent of current PFA students were able to enroll in their family’s first choice preschool, and 93% enrolled in one of their top three choices!

 

 

Inclusion

Inclusion is a core value of Preschool for All. We ask providers to continually learn and develop their practices so that all children are fully included in classroom instruction and activities alongside their peers. Families whose children have disabilities face more barriers in finding and accessing early learning and care and are asked to leave care three times more often than others. Children who are suspended or expelled from preschool programs miss out on valuable learning and developmental opportunities and may experience emotional stress with lasting impact. Preschool for All bans the suspension and expulsion of three- and four-year-olds, which is a pervasive practice disproportionately affecting Black and Brown children and children with disabilities.

PFA matches each provider with a coach who focuses on foundational early learning strategies and supportive classroom environments. In addition, each site is matched with an Inclusion Coordinator who can offer guidance, help with resource referrals, and coordinate supports. Preschool for All providers can access additional funding to hire extra staff or purchase materials that will support the learning of children with disabilities. We also fund an Early Childhood Mental Health team at the County Health Department that can help with classroom interventions, social and emotional learning, and mental health referrals.

 

Strengthening and Expanding the Early Childhood System

Preschool for All was designed in partnership with the community, and our community was clear: how we do this work matters. We need to prioritize inclusivity, cultural responsiveness, and collaboration with both families and the diverse set of early learning providers who have been doing this work for years. The ultimate goal is universal preschool access, and intentional growth is the most effective path. Preschool for All’s timeline was designed to allow for system supports to be put in place as the number of slots grows and to mitigate the negative effects of expanding too rapidly, which can include losing infant and toddler slots in the community and putting small programs out of business.

 

Preschool for All builds on and doesn’t replace state and federal investments in preschool, such as Preschool Promise and Head Start.

 

This graph shows how the number of public preschool seats grows over time. The estimate of 11,000 PFA seats is based on the projection of the population of 3- and 4-year-olds by 2030, as well as what we’ve learned from other jurisdictions about the proportion of families – just over three-fourths – that we anticipate will want to enroll their children in a universal preschool program.

 

Building toward universal preschool access is not as simple as paying for preschool seats.

 

The pre-pandemic ballot measure seat goal for 2023-24 was 1,500-2,000 slots. After the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the child care industry became clear, Preschool for All stayed committed to creating universal access to publicly funded preschool by 2030 and adjusted the yearly seat goals, in order to have a realistic growth timeline. As of October 2023, there are still 20% fewer child care providers open in Multnomah County than there were prior to the pandemic. You can learn more about the seat goal revisions here.

There are currently not enough classroom spaces or enough teachers to serve every child in the county. In order to reach our goals, we’re investing in infrastructure development and teacher recruitment and training. And we’re proud to say that we’re on track and meeting our planned slot benchmarks. We’re increasing the number of slots each year and building a sustainable system that focuses on racial equity, while also making investments that provide the foundation for future growth.

The community members and educators behind Preschool for All knew it wasn’t enough to just fund seats – system support resources would be necessary to achieve their vision. These resources include higher wages for early educators, coaching and professional development, funding to stabilize infant and toddler care, investments in recruitment and retention of a skilled and diverse workforce, and support for the expansion of child care facilities across Multnomah County.

Wages

Early educators have long been undervalued and underpaid, in spite of their essential role in children’s development and the economic health of our community. Many child care workers across the country qualify for public benefits and can’t afford high-quality care for their own children. Preschool for All wage requirements are significantly higher than the state average, and the target salary for lead teachers is comparable to the average wage of kindergarten teachers. The median hourly wage for a child care worker in Oregon is $17.22. The minimum wage for a preschool assistant at a PFA site is $20.91 per hour, and the target salary for a lead teacher with a BA or Step 10 is $37.48 per hour.

Facilities

PFA provides start-up funds to Pilot Sites that have enabled existing preschool programs to make necessary upgrades to their spaces in order to meet licensing requirements and create engaging environments for young learners. With these funds and the stability of Preschool for All payments, 20% of our Year 1 providers expanded their business into a new facility for Year 2.

The Preschool for All Facilities Fund launches this spring with $16 million this year to assist providers with improving their spaces and increasing their capacity. BuildUp Oregon, a coalition of Community Development Financial Institutions, will administer the fund and offer technical assistance for qualifying providers seeking to improve, preserve, or expand their facilities. They’ll also work with developers and providers to increase the number of preschool facilities co-located in affordable housing.

We anticipate that there will need to be roughly 4,000 newly licensed seats and school district seats in the community before 2030. So far, Preschool for All has already added over 500 of the needed 4,000 seats. The Facilities Fund will accelerate the development of these new seats.