Pre-K predicament: Thousands of parents struggle with costs

wow. it seems as though the middle class is going through what the lower class has been going though. the middle class revolution is on the horizon. i think all children deserve the best medical care and education no matter how much money their parents may or may not have. how else is this country supposed to survive and compete in this global economy if their people are dumb and sick?

The problem is that illegal aliens can receive this service over American citizens as the schools do not care where the kids come from as long as they numbers to give to the state for the money.

What a crock.

Pre-k has done nothing to raise test scores of blacks and browns.

Isn't it amazing that the very people who fund the program through their tax dollars aren't even permitted to use it unless they fork over additional money. It doesn't seem fair that they have to pay twice, first for their neighbor's kid and then their own.

I went through this myself w/ my kids. My kids got punished because we made a couple hundred dollars over their standards and because I taught my kids to speak English. I dont know how many kids in cars with Mexican plates I saw being dropped off at the bus stop. I was paying for these illegals to go to a school where my kids were not allowed.

Pre-K is not necessary. I think it’s all about keeping up with the Joneses. If you want to give your kids a head start, it will be in your homes as a family.

I feel we should all be more involved and get some accountability from our officials. Some of these people are wild and want to do their own thing no matter who it hurts. In My Opinion!!!

Right-on with eprep's comments above.

It's a shame really...all kids deserve the same opportunities regardless of their parent's income. I too fell into the category of parent that made "too much money" for my kids to qualify. And I was just getting by!! Paying for a pre-k program wasn't an option for me, so I educated my children myself. They both started school knowing how to read. So it's possible..... but it sure isn't fair!

I went through the same thing with my daughter and so did our friends when all these illegals got free education and still do..........even middle schools have illegals dropping their kids off.
Milking the system! That's what theyr'e good for.

This is very unfair from the state or who ever is responsible for the program since the cost comes from all the tax payers money.
This mean that if I make a few hundreds more than other person even though I pay taxes for the program my child does not qualifies, and other if my child speaks English but little or no Spanish she/him can not qualified also.
This is something that my wife and I were told about my daughter since she speaks little Spanish.
The state is been very unfair as to this program and it should change the rules and make something better were everybody can use it.

i thought pre-K was free everywhere..i guess not!

People, we need to write letters to our local reps expressing our concerns or nothing will get done. It's ridiculous that ANY tax payer shoulder this burden and not receive the benefit. If non-citizens want their kids in these early childhood development programs, they should be required to fork over money to pay for the programs. We as El Pasoans are great at complaining, but rarely take action. Please write your local state rep and let them know how you feel about this epidemic. A short letter and stamp may go a long way towards making our concerns known and dealt with. Thanks to all.

eprep wrote:

I went through this myself w/ my kids. My kids got punished because we made a couple hundred dollars over their standards and because I taught my kids to speak English. I dont know how many kids in cars with Mexican plates I saw being dropped off at the bus stop. I was paying for these illegals to go to a school where my kids were not allowed.

Well said, I went through the same thing, I too taught my kids to speak english after all we do live inthe United States! I also saw alot of plates from Mexico and this made me very angry. But as usual it's the low income that always get everything for free and we people that work don't get shit for trying to be responsible citizens.

thats why we need universal pre-k in the United States. Studies show that pre-k students excel more in their later years.

Think of it, because the federal gov. does not have to provide pre-k the responsibility is shifted to the state, and then the state says well we will only fund this many students and tell the districts they have to pick up the tab for anymore then the allotted students.

Pre-K is a competitive admissions because its underfunded. Make the federal gov. mandate Universal Pre-K.

One of the requirements for Pre-K is spanish only at home, which I find ironic, since they are NOT teaching those kids english. If language is such a barrier and a qualifier for the program, I expect my tax dollars to go to teachers speaking english in class. But, of course, the longer we them them speaking spanish, the schools will get more money for bilingual education, which severely limits these kids futures in the United States.

Here we go again” it’s for the children” Citizens beware… this is about money. Schools have become a business; the number of students in a classroom means more Dollars for the district. We as parents and grandparents want the best for our kids or grandkids but does pre-k do that? In my opinion it does not.

eprep wrote:

I went through this myself w/ my kids. My kids got punished because we made a couple hundred dollars over their standards and because I taught my kids to speak English. I dont know how many kids in cars with Mexican plates I saw being dropped off at the bus stop. I was paying for these illegals to go to a school where my kids were not allowed.

I strongly agree with eprep. I am also tired of seeing cars with Mexico plates dropping off and picking up kids at my children's schools. I pay very high property taxes every year while these people don't pay a cent while their kids are going to US schools. Schools always say there is overcrowding and not enough money for needs. Getting these kids out of the schools where they should not be could help these issues. Administrators know who these kids and parents are. Why do they not do something about it? It is a very big problem with an easy solution: Get them out.

UTEP student wrote:

thats why we need universal pre-k in the United States. Studies show that pre-k students excel more in their later years.
Pre-K.

Some Pre-K students do, BUT some use this as just another form of FREE DAYCARE, and when the students go home, NOTHING is reinforced or practiced. It's about 50/50.

Jstin wrote:

Pre-K is not necessary. I think it’s all about keeping up with the Joneses. If you want to give your kids a head start, it will be in your homes as a family.

Not saying that I'm arguing entirely with you, but you're not taking into account those households with either two full time working parents, who can't keep their kid at home all day unattended, or single parent homes in the same predicament. Hence, your arguement is only valid for those homes with a stay at home parent... of which there are VERY few these days.