Monterey Peninsula Unified School District has received nearly $2 million in state funding to expand the district’s preschool services.
The District Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh explained the decision to expand preschool services comes from the community’s “vast need” for affordable childcare programs.
“Right now we serve 3-to-5-year-olds but with the expansion grant, we’re able to now serve both infants and toddlers. So we’ll be able to have from six months to five years, a full continuum of care for our community,” explained Diffenbaugh. “So that was really something that we felt like was both a need in the community and something that we understood would have a huge impact in terms of our students being ready to excel by the time they got to our kindergarten and transitional kindergarten programs.”
The district received funding through two state grants: the California State Preschool Program Grant – for $1,224,962 – and the General Child Care and Development (CCTR) Expansion – for $736,530.
Diffenbaugh outlined to the district’s board of education at Tuesday’s meeting how the district will use the funds to expand its programs.
Currently Monterey Peninsula Unified School District offers fee-based and free state preschool services to 3-to-5-year-olds at both the Seaside Children’s Center and the Marina Child Development Center. Seaside Children’s Center also offers a fee-based program for 2-to-3-year-olds. The program costs $850 per month for community members and $590 per month for district employees. State preschool programs are free for families based on income eligibility.
Diffenbaugh explained that the district plans to add three additional state preschool classrooms to Seaside Children’s Center: one for 3-to-5-year-olds, one for infants and toddlers and one for 2-year-olds; and two additional preschool classrooms for the Marina Child Development Center: one for special education and one for 3-to-5-year-olds.
According to Diffenbaugh, the district hopes to have those centers up and running by January or February.
The district will also expand preschool services to include its first-ever dual language preschool. The Dual Language Academy of Monterey Peninsula (DLAMP) is scheduled to open at Highland Elementary school in August 2023 and will be available to 3-to-5-year-olds.
Diffenbaugh explained that in addition to increasing preschool programs to include infants and toddlers, the district also wanted to expand its services into Monterey – especially after a community survey revealed an overwhelming request for affordable childcare programs in the area.
As the district reconfigures and consolidates school campuses in wake of decreasing enrollment, school leaders have begun to evaluate how they can use underutilized district facilities for other services – like housing, safe parking or early education programs.
Diffenbaugh explained that when Monte Vista Elementary School consolidates with Walter Colton Middle School for the 2023-2024 school year, the district will use its Monte Vista campus to offer additional preschool programs in Monterey.
Diffenbaugh said the program – which he believes will be the first state-run preschool program in Monterey – is expected to be running by August 2023.
To offer expanded preschool programs and services, the district must also improve and expand its facilities, hire additional staff and purchase updated furniture and supplies, according to Tuesday’s presentation. While the grant funding fully covers the expansion cost for Seaside Children’s Center and the Marina Child Development Center, the district would need to cover around $150,000 to finish the necessary renovations for the Monte Vista and Highland campuses.
And with expansion comes the need to hire additional staff – a daunting task in the face of a national teacher shortage and competitive labor market.
But Diffenbaugh remains optimistic. He explained that recently, in negotiations with the Monterey Bay Teachers Association, the district agreed to implement a $7,000 raise for all teachers over the course of two years.
“It’s a great win for our teachers and it’s also a great win for the community, because we’re going to be able to both attract and retain high-quality staff because these salaries will be much more competitive than they used to be,” Diffenbaugh explained.
Additional funding for preschool expansion could also come from Measure Q – a local ballot measure that would add a $49 parcel tax on each parcel of real property in Monterey County for a period of 10 years. The revenue generated – an estimated $5.5 million annually – would be used to increase and improve affordable childcare services in Monterey County.
“We’ve worked extremely hard over the last 10 years to improve our early learning programs, and I’m super proud of the progress we’ve made,” Diffenbaugh said. “Our hope is not just to add more students, but to ensure that those students receive the highest quality, because when you look at all the research around early learning, it says that it makes a huge difference but it has to be high quality … it has to be a preschool program that adheres to the standards that are outlined. And that’s certainly what we intend to continue to do.”
