This September, leaders from our voter-approved children’s fund community of practice came together in Multnomah County, OR, for our third and final site visit of the year. Like our previous two site visits—to Denver Preschool Program in April and Cincinnati Preschool Promise in July—our trip to Preschool for All in Multnomah County gave our community of practice members the opportunity to learn from different models of fund administration and to build and strengthen relationships with their peers.

Preschool for All was established by voter approval in November 2020, when 64% of voters agreed to create a marginal, tiered income tax on high-income earners who live and work in Multnomah County, OR. (The measure implemented a 1.5% personal income tax on individuals who earn more than $125,000 annually, and an additional 1.5% tax on individual incomes over $250,000 annually.) Now in its third year of implementation, Preschool for All is on track with its plans to expand to universal free and voluntary preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds by 2030, with more than 2,000 seats funded this fall. As it expands, the program prioritizes serving children from high need or targeted populations. In 2023-2024, 89% of the children enrolled came from families with low incomes; 73% identified as Black, Indigenous, or children of color; and 22% had developmental disabilities or delays. 

Providing universal preschool access to all families who join the program will require Multnomah County to add approximately 11,000 publicly funded preschool spots between 2020 and 2030, quintupling the number of publicly funded slots that were available in 2020. To make this drastic expansion possible, Preschool for All provides funding for workforce development, adequate compensation, coaching, and professional development for early childhood educators; child care facility renovation and expansion; and efforts to stabilize the infant and toddler care sector. 

During the site visit, we learned about the deep community-centered approach Multnomah community members took to create the Preschool for All program. The process started in 2012. Then in 2018, at the direction of now County Chairperson Jessica Vega Pederson, the Preschool for All Task Force formed to put community-based policymaking into action. The task force had several work groups that focused on the following: outlining the fund’s program and policy approach, infrastructure, finance strategy and administration, and building the early educator workforce. To ensure that family voice drove the policymaking, the task force partnered with Early Learning Multnomah’s Parent Accountability Council. A unique feature of the approach was that the parent accountability council was not just an advisory board; it had true decision-making authority. The effects of having such strong community engagement during the planning process are still evident, even as the program enters its fourth year of implementation. “It took a lot of great work to do the community-based policymaking process, and we are committed to upholding that vision as we implement,” noted Brooke Chilton Timmons, strategy and communications manager for Preschool for All.

As we concluded our site visit, we heard a few reflections expressing the value of bringing together fund leaders who undoubtedly have difficult roles that sometimes feel isolating. “It [i]s always helpful [to] hear and learn from others. I appreciate the leadership of the Children’s Funding Project in convening us all,” reflected Kristin Spanos, executive chief officer of First 5 Alameda County, CA.

Here are three takeaways from our site visit:

1. “If we know that universal preschool programs destabilize infant and toddler care, and we don’t take the responsible steps to stabilize it, we can no longer say it’s an unintended consequence.” —Leslee Barnes, division director, Preschool and Early Learning Division, Multnomah County, OR

Some may wonder why a universal preschool program focused on 3- and 4-year-olds would divert any funds to infant and toddler child care. Unfortunately, a large influx of funding for preschool slots can upset the fragile early childhood system by incentivizing early childhood programs to provide more preschool spots and fewer infant and toddler child care spots. Preschool for All is working to preserve child care spots for infants and toddlers in Multnomah County with its Infant and Toddler Stabilization Funding. These funds help Preschool for All pilot sites maintain infant and toddler care by allowing them to increase the wages and benefits for the child care professionals who care for infants and toddlers. This helps retain child care professionals and stabilize the infant and toddler child care market.

2. “Setting a pace that works for the community is best, but it’s not always easy to communicate.” —Brooke Chilton Timmons, strategy and communications manager, Preschool and Early Learning Division, Multnomah County, OR

Strategic communications can be challenging when program implementation is complex. Communicating about the pace of spending revenue as the county collects it is particularly complex. During the planning process, fiscal modeling showed that Preschool for All revenue collection would outpace initial spending needs and the program would not be able to provide universal access until it drastically increased the supply of available preschool seats. By holding dollars in reserve during the early years—when Preschool for All has fewer preschool spots and builds adequate supply—the program will remain steady later during a short number of years when expenditures will outpace revenue growth, about the time when Preschool for All anticipates providing universal program access. These realities can be hard to communicate because, rightfully so, many voters want to see their tax dollars used immediately and they know the community has a shortage of child care spots that affects their preschool children. However, responsible fiscal management of public funding requires a strategic plan to get through foreseeable challenges that threaten the long-term availability of services to families.

3. “Developing your workforce with education pipelines is really about helping educators use the pipeline as a value-add instead of being punitive.” —Chara Fisher Jackson, executive director and CEO, Cincinnati Preschool Promise, Cincinnati, OH

Well before the Preschool for All ballot measure passed, the task force recommended that preschool providers participating in the fund’s program pay their educators a living wage. The fund’s long-term goal is to have early childhood educators have pay parity with kindergarten teachers. Wage increases are only one aspect of developing the workforce and aren’t sufficient to grow it to the scale required for a thriving universal system. The fund also supports a workforce development pipeline that includes traditional higher education degrees and community learning experience pathways that allow aspiring early childhood teachers to choose the path that best fits their personal goals and learning styles. No single entity is responsible for developing the workforce, so the fund uses strong relationships with several organizations supporting the process. This creates a process with no wrong entry point into the pipeline.

We appreciate Preschool for All and the Department of County Human Services Preschool and Early Learning Division for supporting our visit and providing the opportunity to learn about Multnomah’s community-based policymaking process, implementation challenges, and successes. Children’s Funding Project’s voter-approved children’s fund community of practice and our series of site visits are supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Marina Mendoza is senior manager of early childhood impact and Olivia Allen is co-founder and vice president of strategy and advocacy at Children’s Funding Project.

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