By Casey Malone

Nearly 25 percent of children in Seattle are not enrolled in preschool, and of the 7 percent of Latino families in the city, many are unable to afford preschool for their 3 and 4 year olds.

“If you look at Latino kids in Seattle public schools, many of them, not all of them, but many are academically off course or behind,” said Seattle City Council President Tim Burgess. “And this is true of African Americans, Native Americans, immigrant children [and] children living in poverty.”

But change could be on the way.

On Nov. 4, an overwhelming 69 percent of Seattle voters approved Proposition 1B—Universal Preschool, which aims to make high-quality preschool available city-wide, particularly for minority groups.

According to a study done by Seattle City Council, only 54 percent of low-income families enrolled their children in preschool in 2014.

“High-quality preschool is designed to get these kids ready for kindergarten and a lifetime of learning,” Burgess said.

Universal pre-K has been years in the making. In September 2013, the City Council unanimously adopted a resolution , which established the City Council’s goals of making voluntary high-quality preschool available and affordable to Seattle’s children, and of outlining an initial plan toward achieving this goal.

In May of this year, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray submitted a plan to raise $14.5 million annually to fund universal pre-K and begin closing the preparedness gap for Seattle’s preschoolers. The city will establish a Preschool Levy Oversight Body to make recommendations on the design and funding of the program, and to monitor whether the program is meeting its outcomes and goals.

Voluntary for preschool providers, the proposition is a four-year phase-in that will start small in September 2015 with a goal of 14 preschool classrooms in year one. The goal is 100 classrooms by year four.

“We’re taking that go-slow approach because we want to focus on quality, not necessarily on quantity,” Burgess said.

City funds will be awarded on a competitive basis. Organizations that want to open preschool classrooms through the city’s program (i.e. Seattle Public Schools, community-based preschool providers, hub organizations that provide administrative support to a variety of providers) will apply and be ranked based on variety of criteria.

In order to participate in the program, organizations must commit to providing two or more preschool classrooms, and ensure that all children in those classrooms are Seattle residents.

Contracting with Seattle Public Schools will be a priority. Priority also will be given to qualified organizations offering bilingual programs, as well as schools in low-income, poor-performing school districts.

“Early on children are ripe for learning multiple languages,” said Nancy Hertzog, a professor in the Education Department at the University of Washington. “But the most important thing at this age is that they become proficient in their first and home language.”

The program will be open to Seattle residents who are 4 years old on Aug. 31, prior to the beginning of school-year enrollment. It will also be open to residents who are are 3 years old on Aug. 31 for families with income equal to 300 percent of Federal Poverty Level ($47, 700) or below.

As the program is ramping up, priority will be given to children currently enrolled in preschool with a contracted organization, and children whose sibling is concurrently enrolled in the Seattle Preschool Program. Children living in close proximity to available program classrooms will also be given priority.

Tuition will be free for families earning less than 200 percent of the poverty level ($47, 700 for a family of four in 2014), while tuition for families earning more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level will be offered on a sliding schedule, with some level of subsidy for all families.

In the end, universal/ high-quality preschool in Seattle is expected to cost $3.61 per month for the average homeowner.

Ongoing assessments of classroom quality will occur throughout the first four years of the program. At the end of the four years, Burgess says an evaluation process will take place, in which participating preschools will assess their progress and decide whether or not to expand.

According to the National Institute for Early Education Research , the first five years of a child’s life are a time of rapid brain development, with early experiences having effects with life-long consequences.

“All three and four year old children are ready to learn,” said Hertzog. “They are inquisitive, they are curious and ready to be engaged with the world around them.”

Proponents say pre-K produces short- and long-term positive impacts, better preparing children for kindergarten and a lifetime of school. But inside the classroom, learning is play-based.

“Universal preschool should not just be seen as a time where you shove academics down,” Hertzog continued. “It’s a time to provide enrichment of the early learning skills that [children] need.”

With the proposition passed, El Centro de la Raza in South Seattle which has been providing day care since 1972, is already planning expansion, breaking ground in March 2015 to add three more preschool classrooms.

“By being able to provide for the 3 and 4 year olds, we are hoping to give back not only to the Latino community but to everybody,” said Hilda Magaña director of the Child Development Center at El Centro de la Raza.

But the goal is to make what happens in the short-term payoff in the long-term.

Implemented in Boston in 2006, high-quality preschool saw long-lasting and positive effects, including educational success and economic productivity. A study conducted by New York University and the University of Michigan showed universal pre-K eliminated the school readiness gap between Latino and White children in early reading and mathematics, and lead to gains in language, literacy and math across ethnic groups.

According to the National Institute of Early Education Research, the potential gains from pre-K investments are priceless. Students have a greater likelihood of reading at grade level, graduating high school, earning more in the future and having a better health overall.

For now, as organizations apply for funding, families await a finalized list and detailed application process for individual schools.

“Investing early on behalf of our kids produces a great return on that investment,” said Burgess. “The benefits of high-quality preschool are irrefutable.”