That idea became evident in her column praising the Meeting Street Academy for its achievements. As Balog says, "Maybe it’s time to look at universal preschool, or at least better state support for early learning."
Now, in times of great budget distress, she believes is the time. She points out that having a mere 1900 in preschool in CCSD at present needs to change:
"Charleston County public schools have about 3,000 kindergartners, but only about 1,900 preschool students, according to Dr. Lerah Lee, the executive director of the Early Learning Community for Charleston County School District. One of the district’s Vision 2016 goals is to make sure they serve all eligible preschoolers, Lee said."Is Vision 2016 planning to drive all private preschools out of business? I don't remember McGinley's promising that.
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Is this approach not about CCSD wanting to take over other education "profit centers"? Look at recent events. CCSD took over all Head Start programs in Charleston County last year. This year will be the first time they start incorporating the Head Start pre-kindergarten students into the regular school enrollment figures. Watch the before and after numbers for more examples of CCSD officials manipulating the total enrollment numbers to show another district growth spurt. In reality this isn’t a real enrollment jump; it's program creep. If that's not enough, district officials have terminated existing relationships with all non-district operated pre-school or pre-K programs. These were partnerships that once existed parallel with Head Start but were private and managed separately. The move to end these independent partnerships will lock out hundreds of kids, particularly in the rural areas, who are not qualified for Head Start and who have no other private pre-school alternatives. This move shows that CCSD is only concerned with restricting public access to the educational choices the district chooses to provide. Where's the free market competition here?
If Dr. Lerah Lee were serious about her statement, she would not work so diligently to shut down the non profit private program at St.James-Santee (Rising Star) which has a proven track record of delivering effective services for preschoolers in the Awendaw and McClellanville communities. Head Start invaded Rising Star and took their children. If they had recruited their own, preschool service for children would have doubled. Go figure.
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