PORTLAND, Ore. — If you’re a parent who has searched for preschool options, you know how much of a headache that can be.
Back in November 2020, a ballot measure funding universal preschool passed in Multnomah County through an income tax on the county’s highest earners. Sixty-four percent of voters approved it.
Now, we’re starting to see something tangible.
Enrollment for Multnomah County’s Preschool for All program officially opened last week with over 670 spots available. As of Wednesday, the county had received more than 740 applications.
One of the many parents hoping for a spot in the new universal preschool program is Tri To, a father to two kids, a 7-year-old boy and a little girl who is turning 3 years old in August. He and his wife, Ruby, are currently searching for a preschool for their daughter. They likely won’t know if they snagged a spot until July.
But To is familiar with the stress associated with finding a good preschool option. He and his wife had to do it for their son.
“I would say middle income level families, you know, it's just hard,” said To.
He said one hurdle is that preschool can be expensive. Options can be difficult to find for families that make too much to qualify as low income, but too little to comfortably pay for preschool. Families are then forced to make difficult decisions.
“Me and my wife [both] go to work. But then, you know, paying like […] almost one salary just for preschool is like, I'd rather have one parent stay at home with a kid,” To said.
He and his wife were eventually able to find a preschool option that worked for their son but are about to start the process all over again for their daughter. In an effort to relieve pressure on families, Multnomah County has opened enrollment for its Preschool for All program that’s set to start in the fall.
Leslee Barnes, the preschool and early learning division director for Multnomah County, is leading the team that’s implementing the Preschool for All program. She said this first year, they have 48 sites available across the county.
“We’ve got several opportunities in many languages as well,” said Barnes. “So we were making sure we're intentional about how do we roll this out.”
Barnes said parents will have choices when it comes to location or whether they need full-day preschool. Since the universal preschool measure passed, the county has been working to create the infrastructure necessary to support the program. That has taken time.
“We knew that we had to invest in infrastructure, including workforce and preschool programs [that] had really been closed due to COVID,” Barnes said.
During the pandemic, preschool and child care options dwindled. That wasn’t good news, especially when Oregon was already considered what’s called a “child care desert.”
“That means that there is only one slot for every three children. So 25 of Oregon’s 36 counties is a child care desert. That was pre-COVID. So we know that the numbers are probably worse now. It's even higher for infants and toddlers. The entire state qualifies. We have an average of one slot for every eight infants and toddlers in our counties. So this was a crisis before the pandemic,” said Alyssa Chatterjee, Oregon’s early learning system director.
She’s excited about the Preschool for All program in Multnomah County
“I think it's really a great chance for us to learn and see how we could do differently at the state, but also really lifts up the importance of local investment in early learning and community. We can't do this alone. The need is so great,” Chatterjee said.
According to Chatterjee, other counties have expressed interest in similar universal preschool initiatives and will be watching what happens in Multnomah County closely. Although replicating a program like the one in Multnomah County, may be difficult for more rural counties.
Chatterjee said rural communities may not have the funding and investments available to support universal preschool at the scale necessary. That’s why she said it’s important that state and local officials continue to think of ways to partner and support continued state investments into programs that support preschool and daycare opportunities.
For now, Multnomah County has a long road ahead.
“Full universal [preschool] is going to take us 10 years to get to that,” said Barnes.
“I know I'm asking for folks to be patient but we really just don't have the supply available to be fully universal, and we want to do it well.”
Barnes said if the county were to serve every single preschooler, assuming every parent wanted to opt in, it would be 19,000 preschoolers.
For this first year, Barnes said 670 or so slots are available. Each year, she said the hope is for 500 more slots to open up. Barnes said as the county moves toward full universal preschool in the years to come, the county will have to figure out more places where programs can take root. She said the county will have to look at existing buildings, rental spaces or partnering with developers to create preschool spaces.
Relationships must also continue to be developed with preschool providers that have shut down during the pandemic or are currently operating outside of the program. Chatterjee said before the pandemic, turnover in the child care workforce was high at around 30%. She said state and local officials will need to attract and keep people in these types of jobs through good wages.
Meantime, parents like To and his wife Ruby, are playing the waiting game.
“Just knowing the program's already in place and growing and going to be widely available for families, I think that's a great step,” said To.
Due to the high volume of applications, Multnomah County will accept applications through the end of April. Barnes initially told KGW that enrollment would stay open until the end of May. It’s not a first-come-first-serve situation because they want to give as many families as possible an opportunity to get their names in.
Children that are low income, in foster care or have other barriers will be prioritized.
For those families that aren’t tech savvy, Barnes said the county is working with community-based organizations that are being tasked to help walk families through the process.