In local visit, Kaine firm on pre-K funding

As part of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s efforts to close a $2.9 billion revenue shortfall, nearly every part of Virginia’s government is facing budget cuts. One of the few initiatives that have so far escaped Kaine’s knife, however, is a relatively modest expansion of early childhood education.

Now that Kaine’s budget cut proposals are in the hands of the General Assembly, he knows there is a possibility that lawmakers may slash pre-kindergarten programs.

“There’s some chance,” Kaine said. “But you know what? That’s what a line item veto is for.”

Kaine visited a Covesville church Sunday night to highlight its pre-K program that serves young children from the Charlottesville region.

The nonprofit, nondenominational Covesville Child Development Center, which is affiliated with Cove Presbyterian Church off U.S. 29, teaches children between the ages of 16 months and 5 years old. The school is part of the church’s social justice mission, as it fills a need for high-quality preschool in the area and offers scholarships to low- and moderate-income children.

“They get a great education and great care,” said Gay Lee Einstein, the church’s pastor.

The church’s pre-K program was a natural service for the church, Einstein said, as it has always sought to further the region’s educational opportunities since the early 1800s, when it started a local lending library. In 1840, the church founded an academy for local boys and girls. And in the 1980s, the church offered a Head Start program to the children of migrants who picked apples and peaches in the nearby orchards.

Kristel Riddervold, a Covesville resident who has sent two children to the Covesville Child Development Center, said the facility better prepared them for public school.

“Oh, my gosh. Without a doubt,” she said. “This school pretty much conveys what the governor is talking about. If this was replicated across the commonwealth, there would be a lot of children better prepared for school.”

During Kaine’s 2005 campaign for governor, he ran on a promise to expand pre-K programs to every 4-year-old child in Virginia. Yet as the state’s fiscal situation has grown from difficult to dire, Kaine has substantially scaled back his vision.

“We’ve been in cutting mode because of the tough economy so we’ve not been able to do as much as I’ve wanted,” Kaine said, standing at the church’s pulpit before rows of packed church pews.

Under the state’s current two-year spending plan, early childhood education programs receive $75 million per year, which was an increase of roughly $25 million annually. In crafting the budget, Kaine said, early childhood education was his No. 1 priority.

“Kids gotta be the top priority,” he said.

Education did not escape Kaine’s budget cuts entirely unscathed. The governor has proposed a $400 million cut of public schools as part of his proposal to balance Virginia’s budget.

Early childhood education, Kaine said, is a smart investment for Virginia. Studies have shown that such programs improve school performance, decrease the likelihood of dropping out from high school, decrease the chance of getting into trouble with the law, increase the likelihood the child will attend college and much more.

“If there’s a slam dunk in education research, it’s early investment,” he said.