S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman. On today's show , a look at how schools are performing across San Diego. Then can private preschools compete with California's TC program ? This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Voice of San Diego has released their annual Parents Guide to San Diego Schools. Now , each year , the guide provides a wealth of information on all public and charter schools across San Diego County. This year's version goes a step further. For the first time , it. It now includes information on San Diego private schools as well. I'm joined now by some of the people behind this year's guide , Andrea Sanchez Villafane , and she is the voice of San Diego's managing editor , and she's here in studio with us. Hey , Andrea. Hi. How are you ? Good. Good , good. And also voices education reporter Jacob McWhinney. Welcome to midday Edition. Jacob.
S2: Thanks for having me , Jade.
S1: It's great to have you both here in studio. And this guide is such a big help to so many people. Um , so , Jacob , like , give me a big picture view of where San Diego schools are today , if that's possible. Sure.
S2: Sure. I mean , it's it's a little bit difficult because schools are kind of all over the place. I mean , the pandemic was more than just a bump in the road. I think what we're seeing is that it was a big , big hole that many schools , not just in San Diego , not just in California , but across the country and the world fell into. And in the years since then , they've been trying to dig their way , their way out. And some have had more success than others. San Diego Unified schools are kind of just nearly reaching where they were before the pandemic. But one of the things that the pandemic did do was remind us of a lot of the things that schools may not have been paying as much attention to before the pandemic. Like the importance of social emotional learning. So there is still a lot to make up , but there are some things that that that the pandemic has done that was good.
S1: Yeah , yeah. Well , it exposed what needed to be exposed for sure. Well , Andrea , you included a big addition this year by including private schools. Tell us about that effort and the challenges that came with that.
S3: This is always something we talk about every year whenever we publish the guide. Parents are constantly asking us in San Diego , okay , but what about private schools ? What are our options ? What can we you know , what can we know about them ? And that's always been a really big challenge for us. And this year for this new guide , we decided , all right , we're going to take this on. Luckily Jacob did find some public information. So some of the biggest struggle with providing private school data compared to public school data is that public private schools are not required to release a lot of the information that public schools are. So we had to do a mix of what could we get from the state about certain private schools in San Diego ? And then just like very , um. Reporter work surveying every private school that we could. So we started small with this year , we only included private schools with more than 200 students. Um , so hopefully we can include many , many more in the future. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So how are our private schools then gauged in terms of how they're doing ? Um , if they don't have to provide the same , the same information as public schools.
S3: I mean , that's a great question. I don't know if Jacob can speak to that , but.
S2: I mean , I think the answer is they aren't necessarily all the time. Private schools don't report out things like chronic absenteeism. They don't report out things like test scores. They don't report out things like suspension rates or expulsion rates. These are all all of the ways in which private schools can just be so much more opaque and so much less transparent than public schools. So the data that we did get. We relied , like Andreas said , mostly on public data. And so that was like how many schools or how many kids are enrolled in this school , whether this is a religious school , what kind of denomination they have. This is an all boys , all girls school. Stuff like that. And then mixed it in with some survey stuff that we felt fairly confident to be able to include. Like , do you offer sports ? Do you what is your average tuition ? Do you offer financial aid ? But you know , one of the the problems with this , and one of the reasons we were always so skeptical about doing it before , was that some of that survey data , we kind of have to take private schools at their word. And that is kind of the reality of private schooling. And it's not at all a place that we have , you know , historically felt very comfortable as an investigative news outlet , taking places at their word. But one of the things about this guide is that every year is an experiment. We try to add new things that parents say they would like to see , take things out that may not be working. And so , just like every other year , this experiment will see how it worked out and move on and iterate for next year.
S1: Well , in Jacob you say there there are a pair of new metrics , actually , in this year's guide that you use to tell a more complete story of how a school performs. What are those ? Yes.
S2: So we have some metrics that aren't necessarily new for this year , but they are new that we created. Right. So we have our income versus test score metric. That's a very important one that we created alongside UCSD. And it basically controls test scores for the level of the percentage of kids at a school that qualify for free and reduced price meals. That's important for a couple of reasons , primarily because we know and education reporters will be able to tell you anybody who's ever spent any time around education can tell you that so much of how kids perform has to do with these larger socioeconomic issues that start outside of the classroom. And so you see , when you plot test scores on , you know , a scatter plot , as the income of a school increases , its test scores increase. As its income decreases , test scores decrease. This metric allows us to have a more nuanced view into schools by controlling for the number of kids that that are socioeconomically disadvantaged , and it shows us which schools are doing better than we would imagine them to be doing , or worse than we would imagine them to be doing. So that's that's a really important one. Another metric that we created alongside UCSD is the labor market score that allows us to get a better , better insight into how kind of comprehensive , how impactful , how effective the career technical education programs that , um , high schools offer are. We're very excited about that one. And we also added a couple other little things , like showing whether or not a school is a is a is a community school. That's a something that many schools in San Diego County and across the state have been leaning into. So again , I mean , every year we're trying to add things in and evolve and figure out how best we can serve the needs of parents with the guide.
S1: You know , I remember when I first moved here , people saying that schools north of the 805 Um , or , you know , a different world from school south of the 805. Do you ? Did you find that to be true in in the information that you collected or north of the aid , I should say. You know , I'm going to add a couple of numbers there. No.
S2: I mean , absolutely. And that's , that's not because there's some , you know , north of the eight is some magical place or south of the eight of some , you know , terrible place. It's because those are the demographics of San Diego. San Diego is not only a city that's long been segregated by race , but also by class. And so north of the eight is generally wider and wealthier. South of the eight and particularly south of the 94 , is generally more diverse and less wealthy. And we see test scores very clearly falling out along those lines. It also , when you look at maps , for example , of where kids choice out of , you know , that's one of the things that you're able to do. And we have some information about it in the guide , you can choice out of your neighborhood school and go to a school in another part of San Diego Unified , for example. That is also what the map looks like , right ? Schools south of the eight. South of the 94. Parents choice out of that at a much higher rate than those who live in neighborhoods north of the eight. And so it's all of these things. The way our city is constructed is the way that education still works all these all these years later.
S3: But I think in addition to that , you know , the guide , all of the data that we collect , everything that we present that we've been talking about , yes , is completely a resource for parents , but also for us as reporters , as journalists. We look at this and you're able to see trends , but you're also able to see people in schools that are actually , you know , defeating what you would think they would be doing because of their socioeconomic status. And so we're able to identify , okay , this school is performing well above what you would expect it to. What are they doing ? What's working. Um , you know , can we highlight that work so that maybe other schools can replicate it. Right.
S1: Right. Well , and , you know , you say there. Well , I mean , there are a lot of factors that families also use to choose a school.
S3: So Jacob and I constantly speak to parents about the schools guide. And one thing I always emphasize with them is we all have different priorities. Some some parents. I remember we had we had this really fascinating conversation with the group of parents. Uh , some were speaking in English , some were speaking in Spanish. And , um , one of the parents said , it's really important to me that I can communicate with office staff and that I can communicate with other parents. So I see that the performance at my school isn't the greatest. So what do you suggest ? And I said , well , you need to look at what you value and what your family values and just take this as a tool and okay , if it's not performing great , how can you as a parent get involved and advocate for the school to improve so that your child is getting the best education possible.
S2: Yeah , that's I mean , that's really important , right ? We never want a parent to look at this guide and say , oh , maybe , you know , the test scores at my neighborhood school don't look great. I have to get them out of there as quickly as possible and send them somewhere else. No. School is a collection of numbers , right ? Schools are collections of people working to try to give kids , you know , what they need to thrive. And so these numbers know however much nuance we try to add with things like the income versus test score metric that takes us away from this sort of glorified Zillow score of a basic test score. All of those , again , are only just metrics. So we very much encourage parents to take a look at the guide. You know , try to learn what you can , learn what's important. But then to go visit the school visit , see what you think , see if this guy if the school in your in your kid's neighborhood provides what you are hoping to see , whether that's sports or counselors or , you know , visual and performing arts. Everybody wants something else. And , you know , you should not ever make your decision based solely on a set of numbers. That's just not how this works. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. On the back page , we have a handy checklist for parents. When when they do want to go to our schools that they're interested in and just common questions to ask.
S1: It doesn't necessarily mean that's the best school for your child. Correct.
S3: Correct.
S1: And your family ? Absolutely.
S2: And one of the things that that parents should really understand is that if you have a family , if a kid comes from a family that is really trying to make sure that their kid is does as well as they can , they can succeed almost anywhere. I mean , really the most important tool in any sort of kid's educational toolbox is the ones that start at home. Parents being involved , being active , making sure that they're reading with their kids at night if they can. All of these things , all of these are really , really what will move the needle for a kid. Not necessarily whether they're going to a school , uh , north or south of the eight. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Now , Jacob , you also mentioned choice enrollment earlier. We kind of talked about that. And that's one of the terms you break down in a glossary. You also provide for parents.
S2: It can be a little complicated , especially if you're trying to choice out of your district. But essentially every kid. Right. I live in North Park , um , where I have kids. My kids would be zoned into going to Garfield Elementary. Uh , that is my neighborhood school , but I don't necessarily need to go to that school. I could potentially decide to chase my kid out and send them to somewhere else. Let's say I really want them to be involved in visual and performing arts. I could try to chase them out and go to a school of creative and performing arts. Basically , the way that you'll do that is you'll contact the district's neighborhood enrollment office and you will fill out some paperwork. Oftentimes , they have you fill out the top three schools that you would like to be sent to , and they'll see if they have room there. And maybe you will get your your top one , but maybe you'll get your second. And so it's a it's a process that essentially you have to interface with , with the school office and , and and see if you can can work it out.
S1:
S2: Every single district has a different deadline. And we do. You can probably hear me moving through the guide here. Right now. We actually include a a big list of the school district and choice window. So if we're looking at San Diego Unified , it closed on November 15th for next year. but we'll open back up sometime in the next school year.
S1: Another term your glossary mentions is community school. And this is a fairly new concept in education. Can you remind us what a community school is and how it's different from what we may think of as a traditional school ? Sure.
S2: Yeah. Community schools are a concept that are actually they aren't necessarily new , but they're really , really coming back into vogue. Right ? So basically what they are are schools that provide not just , you know , classrooms and education , but potentially wraparound services. Then the wraparound services they provide are supposed to be really tailored to the community that that school serves. Right. So that may mean that a school provides , you know , after school job training for parents or English classes for parents. Or maybe , you know , a community school provides extra health care like dentistry appointments , stuff like that. But every single community school , the goal is to provide something very unique and different and very tailored to the community. It's basically a school that provides wraparound services. The best way to think of it. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , um , quickly , like , just as a reminder , the voice of San Diego's Parents Guide to San Diego Schools has both a Spanish and English version.
S3: I mean , it's available on our website , so that's a big one. Um , you can download it for free. So voiceover schools , um , but we also have it at some schools and public libraries.
S2: We do. And we also are working on a series of workshops that we will we're essentially going to go to schools , to libraries all around San Diego County to try to talk to people about the guide , what the guide can offer , try to get their input. I mean , a big part of this guide is trying to make sure that we have all that each year to meet the needs of parents. And so if you are somebody out there who works with an organization that you think and you think you know , the families that your organization serves could use this information. We would absolutely love to talk to you. So get in touch. Let's chat. Let's figure out a time to do a workshop. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , what a big help in Jim. This this is to the community. I've been speaking with Voice of San Diego's managing editor , Andrea Sanchez Villafane , and voices education reporter Jacob McWhinney. I want to thank you both for taking the time to come on , and thanks for your reporting.
S2: Yeah , thanks so much.
S3: Thank you.
S1: Still to come , California's expansion of public preschool has made it hard for private preschools to compete. We'll talk about it when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. Expanding public schools to kids as young as four years old has been one of California Governor Gavin Newsom's signature achievements. Transitional kindergarten has opened up access to many families with young children , all without cost. But it's hitting private daycare facilities hard and now many are facing closure. Jenny Kwong joins me now to talk more about what's happening. She's a Capitol reporter with Cal Matters. Jenny , welcome back to Midday Edition.
S4: Thanks so much for having me.
S1: I'm glad you're here. So your story starts by telling us about friction. Moore , who runs a preschool outside of Sacramento. Tell us about her. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. So she runs a private preschool. And by the way , I spoke with many preschool operators for this story , including some in San Diego. Um , and what's happening is that , you know , she used to be full and have , um , a waitlist , and , um , parents were just clamoring to try to get into this program. But now that transitional kindergarten has opened up nearby at the public schools. Um , you know , parents are choosing to go there , whether because they prefer to go to a public school or because that program is free. Um , and so the reason that this makes it difficult , um , for free , is that it's really hard to break even as a preschool operator serving only the kids that are younger. But there's still a lot of need in the community for childcare for younger kids , particularly two years old or younger. That's a a really scarce form of child care , and it's really hard to only run a business doing that because the regulations are so much higher and you need a lot more staff. So a lot of these types of businesses were kind of breaking even by having older children enrolled. Um , you know , those kids are also expensive to care for , but less so. And so they were able to sort of make it work that way. Now that a lot of the four year olds have gone to transitional kindergarten , um , that's just sort of made it difficult to run a child care business.
S1:
S4: Um , you know , this could be due to a number of factors , such as the declining birth rate. But the researchers from UC Berkeley did attribute the expansion of transitional kindergarten as one factor there. Hmm.
S1: Hmm.
S4: So they've poured billions of dollars into expanding transitional kindergarten this school year. You know , if you're a parent of young children , you knew that this school year , TC was open to all children who turned four by September. That's a huge expansion. It used to be very limited as a grade to just kids who didn't make the cutoff for regular kindergarten. Um , and then the state has also put a lot of money towards trying to expand some of the other state subsidized daycare centers and preschool centers , um , that are in the community to try to get them to serve more three year olds and in that way kind of expand , a two year universal preschool program across the state. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Well , I know you spoke with several parents of kids who have gone through public today in California.
S4: So I definitely think that the state and Newsom's administration should get credit for that. You know , it's for somebody who got into the program and it works for their work schedule. This is something that allows their kids to be better prepared to enroll in school in the future , and also takes , um , out of the parent's budget , like you're you're saving like 15 to $20,000 that year in child care costs that would have otherwise gone to perhaps a private childcare provider. So it's huge for working parents. And I've heard a lot of good things about it. I've heard also mix things , um , about , you know , some kids just aren't ready for that setting. And so some people have chosen not to send their kids there. And then it also really depends on if your kid gets into the after school program , too. Uh , because TK is a part day program.
S1: For students who may not be ready for TK.
S4: You know , there are studies on academic performance , behavioral issues like things like that , the effects that TK has on that. Wow.
S1: Wow.
S4: You know , um , especially for caring for two year olds or younger , you have to have one adult per four children that are there , um , whereas you can have one adult per , I believe it's either 10 or 12. Um , for , for an older child , such as a four year old. And so these businesses are using the money that they make from the four year olds to subsidize the care for the younger kids , because you can't make the care for younger kids so much more expensive that parents can't afford it and just can't send their kids there. So it's a it's a balancing act. And with the loss of an additional year of kids , um , it's just making it really hard for these places to stay open. And I think the bigger concern for that is can they stay open so that they can keep serving younger kids ? Because there's still a need for that. There's not , you know , a public school grade for those younger kids. Right.
S1: Right. And , you know , like this is something that we often don't think of in this conversation. But earlier you mentioned lower birth rates.
S4: And so I have heard from some advocates for private preschools that they felt that building out the TC grade was a way to sort of , um , stabilize the public school system because there has been declining enrollment in public schools , um , obviously declining enrollment everywhere because of a declining birth rate. But that , you know , this is one way to help keep the public schools financially stable by adding , um , kids for another year. So that's a concern that I heard just about the kind of political discussions over what led to , um , preschool being expanded in this particular way. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Well , and you also mentioned criticism , California faces and how it's rolled this all out. California is not the first place to expand free education for preschoolers in some form or fashion.
S4: So in states like Colorado and Vermont , you , um , as a four year old get , you know , say 15 hours of free preschool per week that the state will cover and you can do it at the public school. You can do it at a private preschool. You can do it at a private childcare provider , you know , in some other format , maybe at someone's home. Whatever works for your schedule , your work schedule as a parent , whatever works for your child's level of development at that point. And in California , it's just it's more piecemeal. There is free transitional kindergarten for all four year olds , but that's the only option that's fully free for every family. All the other options. You might be able to qualify for some state help , but it depends on your family income. It depends on if you get off a wait list. Um , so so it's the fact that California has expanded one part of that system for everybody and not quite done the same for the other parts of the child care sector. And that's kind of led to some concerns about whether the system will remain stable in the future.
S1: Very interesting. Well , finally , you know , though Governor Newsom has not officially announced he's running for president. A lot of signs point to him being a likely candidate in 2028. How do you think his actions on public preschool will impact his political ambitions.
S4: Yeah , I think that's certainly a fair prediction. Um , it's clear that Governor Newsom is looking towards higher office , and , um , I just think we're at an interesting point in time where , you know , everyone's talking about affordability , and particularly everyone's talking about how unaffordable it can be in California to have children and to raise a family. And that's something that , um , Democrats really want to try to own. And so I think Newsom will be looking towards , um , using his expansions of public preschool , his expansions of childcare. On the campaign trail , he's already told , um , national media , like , I think that this expansion should be a better known story. Um , so I think , you know , it just how well it really works out across California , um , I think will be , uh , something to watch in his future political activities. Absolutely.
S1: Absolutely. I've been speaking with Cal Matters Capital reporter Jeannie Kwong , and you can find her story on KPBS as well as Cal Matters website. Jeannie , thank you so much.
S4: Thanks so much for having me on.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
