Backers, opponents of preschool measure clash at press briefing {Meathead's Prop 82]

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 4/5/6 | Ilene Lelchuk

[SmithL]

The contentious relationship between supporters of Proposition 82 and the June state ballot measure's opponents played out Tuesday when campaign backers crashed a press conference organized by a UC Berkeley think tank.

Policy Analysis for California Education called the teleconference to explain its new study of the proposal to tax the wealthiest Californians to provide free preschool for all 4-year-olds. The study questions whether the plan will put existing schools out of business and benefit more families that can already afford to pay for preschool.

UC Berkeley Professor Bruce Fuller, who leads the think tank, has become a lightning rod for criticism from the pro-Prop. 82 camp led by film director Rob Reiner.

"Bruce is grasping at straws, on a fishing expedition for finding things wrong with the policy," Maryann O'Sullivan, founder of Preschool California and a leading proponent of Prop. 82, said Tuesday, interrupting the call-in conference.

Much of the debate between Fuller and the campaign has been over how to interpret numerous studies on the benefits of preschool and over what proportion of California children attend preschool now.

Fuller, who offers a lonely voice in the face of glowing academic studies about the benefits of universal preschool, has been raising questions in research papers and newspaper editorials, saying especially that Prop. 82 may not benefit enough poor children, who should be its focus.

"For 23 years PACE has put out analysis of ballot propositions. We don't care who backs it or who opposes it. We try to ask tough questions," he said

[calcowgirl]

http://pace.berkeley.edu/wp.05_1.web.revised.pdf

How to Expand and Improve Preschool in California: Ideas, Evidence, and Policy Options

PACE looks at how universal preschool is taking hold in California counties, along with the proposed ballot initiative. Lessons from other states and empirical evidence help to inform -- and question -- claims advanced by advocates and policy makers about how preschool can best advance children's early learning and development.
PACE Universal Preschool.pdf Working Paper 05-1 Full Report