Philly district to shift some Head Start classes to private providers

In a cost-cutting move, the Philadelphia School District will restructure its early-childhood education program in the fall, shifting thousands of preschool seats to private day-care providers throughout the city.

Moving the 2,000 Head Start children, ages 3 and 4, to private facilities will save about $8 million and require layoffs in the teacher and aide ranks, officials told The Inquirer. More than half of the district's early-education children will now be handled by private providers.

Underpinning the change is the school system's bleak budget picture - it projects a $1-billion-plus deficit over five years and recently had to borrow $300 million to pay its bills for the school year.

But a forthcoming cut in federal Title I aid to poor schools and the end of federal stimulus money are mainly responsible for this particular move.

Federal funding for Philadelphia's early-childhood programs will be slashed from $16 million in this school year to $8 million for the 2013-14 year.

"This is not a choice that we're making," said district spokesman Fernando Gallard. "The choice is either, make these changes, or not serve as many kids."

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan, who was notified Wednesday of coming changes, said the move was motivated by money, not "by what is best for kids."

"This," he said, "is absolutely going in the wrong direction."

The difference between district Head Start classes and private providers, Jordan said, is in the quality of instruction. District Head Start teachers must hold four-year college degrees and state certification in early-childhood education. Only 50 percent of teachers in private centers are required to have bachelor's degrees and certification.

Private prekindergarten providers have housed district programs for several years, but outsourcing the 2,000 seats in September will mean that 5,777 of the district's 9,000 prekindergarten learners will now attend classes in private centers.

Asked whether the goal was to eventually outsource all prekindergarten programs, Renee Queen Jackson, the district's deputy chief of early-childhood education, said there were "no specific plans at this point beyond the restructuring that is planned for this upcoming school year."

Despite the huge cut in federal aid - driven, officials said, by how the previous administration decided to allocate its Title I money - the district wants to serve more students in the future, not fewer.

"We have approximately 3,000 children on the wait list, and we're going to be able to offer services for more children," Queen Jackson said. There will be no additional seats in 2013-14, but "as we move forward, we want to expand seats each year with the new partners, and building these relationships."

Queen Jackson stressed that "only high-quality child-care partners" would be selected to house district programs.

Only child-care centers rated Star 3, 4, or 5, the best rankings in the state's Keystone Stars program, will be considered to participate. That program, through state monitoring, encourages strong early-childhood programs.

Some of the 47 outside providers currently working with the district are likely to take more students, but new providers will also be needed. A government "request for proposal" to find them will be issued soon.

District children in private day-care centers will receive the same instruction they would in traditional classrooms, Queen Jackson said.

"We still oversee the fiscal pieces, we monitor the instructional pieces," she said. "We monitor our partners, train their teachers, work with their directors."

Private centers will also use the district core curriculum and have teacher coaches and other district staff who work directly with teachers.

But Jordan was skeptical of how closely the district would be able to monitor private providers.

"Not to demean them," he said, "but we have little control over what these neighborhood organizations do."

Queen Jackson said that data since Head Start students were moved to private facilities a few years ago show that children who attended classes at private centers performed just as well as children who attended district-run programs.

"And we're excited about some of the benefits that we can't provide that our partners can provide," Queen Jackson said, such as before-school and after-school care, and summer programs.

Because the district will not have to foot the bill for salaries, benefits, and facilities, the per-student cost for a district child in a private facility is much less: about $6,000 annually, rather than $10,000.

Facilities costs drove the district's early-childhood ledger up considerably. This year, 10 Head Start programs are in leased facilities. All of those seats will shift to private providers, as will the Head Start centers in schools that will close in June.

About $2.5 million of the $8 million total savings from will come from getting out of rented space.

Officials said laid-off staff would be encouraged to apply for jobs at the private centers.

"We do believe," said Queen Jackson, "that a lot of staff members will follow the children."