Three-year-old Brian placed felt outfits and people on a felt board yesterday at the Community Education Center’s preschool when Assemblyman Gene Mullin approached.

Mullin, D-South San Francisco, chatted with Brian, who was a bit on the reserved side, about the felt people and clothing. The pair were an odd grouping, but Mullin wanted to see first-hand the educational programs offered locally that could and will be affected by recently passed legislation.

In late September, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed two bills aimed to streamline funding for preschools and develop framework for improving the quality of preschool education. In San Mateo County, more than 3,220 children ages 0 to 12 are affected by state-subsidized programs. A majority of those students are preschool age, according to the San Mateo County Office of Education. 

“Preparing for school is crucial. For so many parents [who] work, the ability to have safe learning environment centers like this one is crucial for preparing students for the K-12 system,” Mullin said.

The difficult economic situation facing the state and country adds challenges in funding such programs and replicating successful ones. That’s when making the case and prioritizing becomes important, said Mullin.

Although the recent bills do not add more centers, there will be improvements to preschool education in California which will eliminate redundant administrative work.

Assembly Bill 2759 known as the California State Preschool Program Act of 2008, backed by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, will streamline the various preschool programs. Currently, California has five child development programs for preschool-aged children: State Preschool, Full-Day State Preschool, Prekindergarten and Family Literacy, Prekindergarten and Family Literacy Full-Day and General Child Care and Development Programs. Each requires similar information presented in different ways. The clerical work will now be streamlined by the bill allowing programs to expand.

“The consolidated contracts will mean less administrative time. Costs will also go down allowing centers to use the money for services,” said Jeanie McLoughlin, director of Preschool for All for San Mateo County.

Those benefits would be felt locally by preschool operators who said the time saved could go into other areas like supporting the program, teachers, parents and improving curriculum.

Additionally, the bill will allow legislators to begin looking at preschool programs as a whole instead of individual programs.

Preschools will also be looked at more closely for quality after the passage of Senate Bill 1629, called the Early Learning Quality Improvement Act. Approval establishes a commission to create a state early learning quality improvement system aimed at developing framework for improving California preschools.

Those guidelines will be established through assessment of current programs and facilities.