St. Louis-area group works to make preschool affordable

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis-area group is trying to ensure all children have access to affordable preschool as tuition increases and spots are limited.

The Rev. Jeff Moore created Kirkwood Area Every Child Promise last year to help low-income families in Kirkwood get access to a preschool, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Some preschools in St. Louis County school districts can cost almost $10,000 a year.

Districts in areas that provide free preschool using federal, state or local funding say they don't have enough space to accommodate families.

The Kirkwood School District has an early-childhood center that has room to offer 20 children from low-income families free preschool. It costs $249 a week for a full-day preschool. Many middle-income families struggle to afford that and more than 100 people are on the waitlist for the class, said principal Melissa Sandbothe.

"I had assumed that if the school district owned and ran an early-childhood center that all of the residents in that school district would have affordable access to that childhood center," Moore said. "What I've learned is, throughout the municipalities in the St. Louis area, that's not the case."

The group worked with the Kirkwood School District and local private preschool providers to improve access.

Moore said the group has helped train teachers to work as private early-care providers, provided more than $50,000 in scholarships to families and given weekly packages of food to about 60 low-income individuals.

"We know that the achievement gap starts at birth for many of our children because of the lack of opportunities that they will have before kindergarten," Sandbothe said. Moore's group, she said, "felt it was not only the responsibility of the school district but also the community."

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com