Two Preschool Programs Report Strong Enrollment Levels

By WILL SENTELL

Two preschool programs report strong enrollment levels

Public-school classes for 4-year-olds remain popular despite a huge dip in overall enrollment because of the hurricanes, state officials said Tuesday.

The key preschool program, LA4, is aimed at helping prepare youngsters from poor families for kindergarten.

The effort, which is four years old this month, triggered major skepticism from some educators and others when it won legislative approval in 2001.

However, 9,437 students were enrolled in the classes as of Nov. 30, Scott Norton, director of the state Division of School Standards, told the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

That is mostly LA4 students and a few enrolled in a program called Starting Points, which was a forerunner to LA4.

It does not include before-school and after-school enrichment classes that LA4 offers. The total for all 4-year-old students in public schools is a few hundred less than last year.

The classes remained popular even while statewide public-school enrollment plummeted after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

About 627,000 students are enrolled, compared with 700,000 for the 2004-05 school year, state officials said late last year.

The classes offer six hours of instruction Students can learn their letters, get acquainted with computers, paint, listen to books and learn social skills. They are taught by certified teachers.

Students in LA4 also have the option of four hours per day of enrichment classes, which are not as popular. About 1,400 students were taking part in those activities as of Nov. 30, including 367 in East Baton Rouge Parish.

LA4 has drawn interest from 41 of Louisianas 68 school districts, up from 11 in 2002.

Spending totals $53 million compared with $15 million initially.

Operations had to be tightened after a $2 million cut last year because of hurricane-related budget reductions. The same number of students are served, Norton told the board.

Before the hurricanes, enrollment in the classes for 4-year olds was expected to top 10,000 for the first time.

The classes are a pet project of state Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard, a longtime advocate of pre-kindergarten training for children from poor families.

Picards goal is for the classes to be offered in all 68 school districts.

East Baton Rouge Parish has 1,014 students in LA4 or Starting Points, second only to Jefferson Parish.

Other area school districts and their 4-year-old enrollments include Livingston, 88; West Baton Rouge, 125; Baker, 40; Zachary, 51; and Lafayette, 654.

State law requires school districts that take part in LA4 to offer enrichment classes before and after school unless they obtain a state waiver, which 31 of 41 have done.

The enrichment (interest) is really uneven, Norton said after the meeting. It has not been popular in some places.