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HomeMy WebLinkAbout17-Mayor's Office CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO — REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION From: D'Ann Lanning Subject: RESOLUTION RATIFYING THE SUBMITTAL OF A GRANT Dept: Mayor's Office APPLICATION TO THE DAVID AND LUCILLE PACKARD FOUNDATION, Date: January 28, 2008 AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER OR HIS DESIGNEE TO EXECUTE GRANT DOCUMENTS M/CC Meeting Date: Feb 19, 2008 Synopsis of Previous Council Action: None Recommended Motion: Adopt resolution. IN'VSignature Contact person: n'Ann K I anning Phone: 3147 Supporting data attached:,5taff report, ran applicationWar.- all FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: Amount:none Source: (Acct. No.) (ArCt r)acrri tinn) Finance: Council Notes: EVidus�y Agenda Item No. 17 CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO - REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Staff Report Subject: Resolution ratifying the submittal of a grant application to the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, and authorizing the City Manager or his designee to execute the grant documents. Background: One of the top priorities of the Mayor's Education Roundtable (Dr. Delgado, Dr. Fischer, Dr. Averill and Dr. Karnig) is to find ways to expand and improve pre-school services in the City of San Bernardino. Last year, the Roundtable partners worked together to secure an additional $1.2 million dollars to expand pre-school services in the City of San Bernardino. Because of the work of the Mayor's Education Roundtable in addressing early childhood education, in August of last year the Mayor's Office was contacted by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation and invited to apply for a planning grant to further our pre-school efforts. The Packard Foundation uses the invitation only model for grant applications. The Mayor's office submitted a grant application in September of last year. We were notified in December that we had been awarded the grant. The grant is for$75,000. The grant is valid for 24 months. The original timeline in the grant application attached has been moved forward four months, making the timeline begin on March 1, 2008. The Education Roundtable will use this grant to hire an expert consultant who will help the group plan and implement a city-wide universal preschool program. The pre-school plan that will be developed by the pre-school consultant will include facilities development strategies, program financing strategies and development of quality pre-school programs with access for all, including mandatory parental participation. Parents must be considered partners in this endeavor, without their support and involvement pre-school children will not get the most out of their early childhood education. Financial Impact: None. Matching funds will be in-kind staff services from the Mayor's Office, SBCUSD, CSUSB, Valley College and County Pre-School Services. Recommendation: Adopt resolution. C (DPY i RESOLUTION NO. 2 RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO RATIFYING THE SUBMITTAL OF A GRANT APPLICATION TO 3 THE DAVID AND LUCILLE PACKARD FOUNDATION, AND ACCEPTING SAID GRANT, AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE GRANT 4 DOCUMENTS. 5 6 WHEREAS,a grant application was submitted by the Mayor's Office to the David and 7 Lucille Packard Foundation on September 1, 2007; and, 8 WHEREAS, the grant was awarded by the Packard Foundation to the City of San 9 Bernardino, 10 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND COMMON ii COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO AS FOLLOWS: 12 SECTION 1. The Mayor and Common Council hereby ratify the Mayor's submittal of 13 the grant application to the David and Lucille Packard Foundation for the amount of$75,000 and 14 accept said grant. A copy of the grant application is attached as Exhibit"A,"and incorporated herein 15 by reference. 16 SECTION 2. The City Manager is hereby authorized to execute grant documents 17 per to the above-referenced grant as may be requested by the Packard Foundation from time 18 to time. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 FAROTH\RESOSTackard grant.wpd I 1 RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO RATIFYING THE SUBMITTAL OF A GRANT APPLICATION TO 2 THE DAVID AND LUCILLE PACKARD FOUNDATION,AND ACCEPTING SAID GRANT, AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE GRANT DOCUMENTS. 3 4 I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted by the Mayor and 5 Common Council of the City of San Bernardino at a meeting thereof, held on the _ 6 day of , 2008, by the following vote, to wit: 7 COUNCIL MEMBERS: AYES NAYS ABSTAIN ABSENT 8 ESTRADA 9 BAXTER lo BRINKER 11 DERRY 12 KELLEY 13 JOHNSON 14 MC CAMMACK 15 16 Rachel Clark, City Clerk 17 The foregoing Resolution is hereby approved this _day of , 2008. 18 19 20 PATRICK J. MORRIS, Mayor 21 City of San Bernardino 22 Approved as to form: 23 JAMES F. PENMAN, City Attorney 24 25 By: . 26 27 28 R FAROTH\RESOS\Packard grant.wpd 2 Exhibit A: OFFICE OF THE MAYOR PATRICK J. MORRIS 300 North"D"Street•San Bernardino•CA 92418-0001 909.384.5133 •Fax: 909.384.5067 San Bernar �ino www.sbcity.org 50., August 31, 2007 Dr. Jeff Sunshine Program Officer David and Lucile Packard Foundation 300 Second Street Los Altos, California 94022 Dear Dr. Sunshine, On behalf of the City of San Bernardino and the Mayor's Education Roundtable I am submitting this proposal for planning funding to the Dave and Lucile Packard Foundation. As the Mayor, I believe whole-heartedly in giving our children every opportunity to grow and succeed, this includes the opportunity to attend pre-school. As study after study has shown,pre- school can make all the difference in a young person's life. As I am sure you are aware, the City of San Bernardino is severely underserved by pre-school programs. I served 30 years as a Superior Court Judge, most of those years presiding in juvenile and family court. Prior to my bench appointment I served for many years on the San Bernardino Unified School District Board of Trustees. Those professional and civic experiences brought with them opportunities to study and learn about the importance of giving ALL children a healthy start in life. It became clear to me, confirmed by all the studies---children who attended quality pre-school programs did not end up failing, dropping out and in front of a judge. As the attached proposal makes clear, our city's public school system is highly challenged in its attempts to meet the educational needs of our children and youth. Our city will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2010 and we are proud of our historic status as the county seat of the nation's largest county. But with that age comes a housing stock that is the oldest and "most affordable"in inland Southern California. It has attracted an unusually large population of families on public assistance and first generation immigrants. Twenty-five percent of our students are non-English speaking and 52 percent are receiving free and reduced meals. We suffer from the highest school dropout rate in the region, 32 percent for the four year drop out rate. Upon becoming the mayor of San Bernardino I resolved to gather all of the educational policy-makers around the table and form an ongoing collaborative to address the issue of universal pre-school. Thus the Mayor's Educational Roundtable was reconstituted. In an effort to more fully support our pre-school aged population,we have joined forces r with our local education partners to begin to define and implement what will someday become a city-wide pre-school for all program. Our partners include the County of San Bernardino's Pre- school services department, San Bernardino Valley College, California State University, San Bernardino, the San Bernardino County Office of Education and the San Bernardino City Unified School District. Our collaboration is essential, and unique, to provide a solid foundation for all children entering kindergarten, ensuring their success in our local school system. Attached to this proposal you will find letters of support and commitment from all of the institutions involved in the Roundtable and all of our local elected state officials. The requested 18-24 month, $75,000 planning grant will enable this collaborative to move to the next step in a universal pre-school program for the City of San Bernardino. We have established a solid base of support for this concept. Our supporters include local and state elected officials and all of the major education leaders in our community. Letters of support and pledges to stay involved partners are attached to this proposal. I could not be more excited about this proposal and I hope that we can work together to make our dream of preparing all young children for school a reality. If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this proposal please do not hesitate to call me or D'Ann Lanning, the project manager in my office. Respectfully yours, Patrick J. Morris Philosophy: We believe that it is important to encourage and foster the growth of the whole child. Early childhood education should include all areas of emotional, social,physical and intellectual development. The ages of three to five are crucial periods in a child's education and development. We believe that all children should have access to early education programs. Pre-school and family literacy programs help lay the foundation for academics, social interaction skills, as well as build self-esteem and self-confidence in a child. We believe in providing a foundation for success for each child by giving them the highest quality child development and family support services. Our goal is to encourage children to maximize growth cognitively, emotionally, socially and physically. We believe that each child should be treated as an individual personality with each child's individuality being respected and cherished, building self-esteem and fostering a child's positive perspective of their future. Background Information: A great city needs great educational institutions, where quality learning takes place. The City of San Bernardino is fortunate to be the host city to a highly respected state university and a community college of stature. The city has a number of learning centers where quality workforce training is taking place. However, our city's unified school district is struggling to meet the y educational needs of a highly challenging cohort of 57,000 students, 25% of whom are non- English speakers. The struggles of our school district, one of California's largest, mirror those of other large urban districts throughout the Golden State. As the schools go, so goes the city. The most often asked question by good families deciding if they are going to move to your city is, "How good are the schools?" Therefore, mayors must be concerned and wherever possible involved partners with the schools to improve learning. When Mayor Patrick J. Morris took office, he created the Mayor's Education Roundtable. It is a think tank of sorts for education policy in the City of San Bernardino. Partners include San Bernardino City Unified Superintendent, Dr. Arturo Delgado, Dr. Al Kamig, President of Cal State University, Dr. Don Averill, Chancellor of the San Bernardino Valley Community College Distrcit, Denise Whittaker, President of Valley College and Dr. Herb Fischer, Superintendent of County Schools. Other leaders are added when issues of mutual concern arise. For instance, the Roundtable includes Richard Jarvis, the Executive Director of San Bernardino County's First 5, as we work on early childhood education issues. Mayors are uniquely positioned to establish quality public education as the highest priority of a city. Regardless of the degree of control over schools they exercise, they are in a position to focus city government resources on the improvement of the education system. They also are in a position to form the coalitions of city government agencies, school officials, business leaders and community leaders that must work together to support school systems. The expert consultant will build on this political platform to raise awareness and support city-wide. At the Roundtable's directive, the Mayor's Office at the City of San Bernardino is working to promote, plan and implement a city-wide universal preschool program. Our nation's City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 1 of 7 experience with the Headstart Program and the state's experience with State Pre-school make it clear that a preschool learning experience makes a profound positive impact on a child's educational success. The roundtable partnership is working on a universal pre-school program for every 4 year old in our city. The collaboration of these major institutions is unique and quite frankly very rarely in the State of California has a group of education leaders and a mayor joined hands to promote a common educational goal this broad and this deep. It is our duty to help create involved and concerned constituents, to train and develop an adequate workforce and to prepare our city to move into the future. By focusing on early childhood education, all children in the City of San Bernardino will have the proper foundation upon which to build a life of success. As a first step towards the collaborative's goal of city-wide pre-school, we participated in the AB 172 application process. AB 172 is the Pre-kindergarten and Family Literacy Act passed by the California Legislature in 2006. AB 172 funding is being used to augment and expand services already provided within our city. This was a vital and pivotal launching point for our comprehensive effort. The AB-172 application, led by the San Bernardino City Unified School District,put us on a path to success, reaching our goal of some day providing pre-school for all in this critically underserved city. The David and Lucille Packard Foundation grant will enable the collaborative to continue this forward progress. Preschool education and the implementation of new programs is politically and socially a "hot button"right now. The trend, when carried out with haste and without thorough community planning with all stakeholders involved, could ultimately be counterproductive to the needs of children, families and community development. The purpose of this planning grant proposal is to ensure that the City of San Bernardino has the resources too thoroughly and collaboratively plan for the implementation of a universal pre-school program. Demonstrated Need: The San Bernardino City Unified School District, County Pre-school Services and many private providers strive hard to provide adequate preschool services within the City of San Bernardino. While these efforts are admirable, there is an unmet need for the acceptance of all 4 year olds into a rigorous and structured pre-school program. Based on data from the California Department of Education the City of San Bernardino has an unmet pre-school need of over 2,892 slots.I There are 33 elementary schools in the City of San Bernardino that rank at the Base API Levels 1-3, 23 of those rank at Level 1.2 These underachieving schools produce underachieving young adults. Early childhood education is an important tool in combating low educational achievement. As the Packard Foundation is keenly aware, pre-school programs have proven benefits to children and society. Research shows that children who attend quality preschool are more skilled in reading and math, less likely to be placed in special education or held back a grade, better behaved in class and more likely to graduate from high school. Research also shows that preschool benefits society as a whole; children who attend quality preschool are less likely to be involved in crime, more likely to earn higher incomes as adults, and less likely to become ' This data is based on statistics gathered on 2002 births, licensed center-based pre-schools and determined unmet need as provided by the California Department of Health Services and the California Department of Education. z http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2007 City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 2 of 7 pregnant as teenagers. These are important milestone markers in the City of San Bernardino which is severely challenged by these very issues. The City of San Bernardino and the Mayor's Education Roundtable not only are working towards universal pre-school to satisfy an unmet need of city youth, but also to promote and enhance economic development. A recent California-specific report by the RAND Corporation found that a quality universal preschool program would produce multiple benefits for California society and generate a return of$2.62 for every dollar invested. These statistics can not be ignored by local government. Proposed Planning Program Goals: The City of San Bernardino recognizes the importance of school readiness for the success of our future generations. Every child should have every opportunity to grow and succeed, this includes the opportunity to attend pre-school. As study after study has shown,pre-school can make all the difference in a young person's life. The City of San Bernardino is severely underserved by pre-school programs. The City of San Bernardino has two goals for this planning process. One,raise public awareness and support for universal pre-school and two, plan and implement a city-wide universal preschool program. There is a two tiered approach to achieving these goals and satisfying the planning mission. The Mayor's office will be responsible, through its partners in the Mayor's Education Roundtable to establish strong advocacy and leadership networks city, county and statewide for the expansion of pre-school programs. The Mayor's office will identify and educate individual champions and pursue media interest to educate the public about the importance of early childhood education. It is also the responsibility of the Mayor's office to cultivate political support at all levels of government. It is through the work outlined above that that City of San Bernardino will meet goal one—raising public awareness and support for universal pre-school. The second goal will be reached by employing an expert consultant, partially sponsored by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, to establish a flagship pilot universal pre-school program in the City of San Bernardino. The universal program will include facilities development strategies, program financing strategies and development of quality pre-school programs with access for all. A major component of this plan and program includes the engagement of an expert consultant who will conduct such activities as develop strategic communications; create a community-wide stakeholder advisory group to mentor and monitor the planning process; and conduct community forums and other public events to bring awareness and support for the universal program. The Education Roundtable embraces the National Child Care Association's six principles for guiding community pre-school programs: 1. Parent Choice 2. Community Planning Partnerships and Collaboration 3. System Structure a) Continue collaboration and partnerships with the private early care and education community to ensure the maximization of existing infrastructures, expertise and "instant" capacity. b) Build programs on existing agency structure, funding streams and quality measures. City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 3 of 7 4. Program Structure a) "At risk" children are best served by integration with their peers. b) Preschool classrooms must have qualified early childhood teachers who are trained in early education and have the aptitude to nurture young children. C) The needs of working parents must be incorporated into preschool systems and we should make systems "seamless" for working families. d) The needs of young children must be reflected in preschool environments. e) Children in all pre-k settings must be given equal protection through the regulation and enforcement of minimum health and safety licensing standards. f) Outcome evaluation measures are imperative. 5. Funding a) Public-Private Partnerships must be equitably and adequately funded at the full cost of providing the service. b) Parents must be considered partners in programming and in the payment of fees creating the ability to leverage fees with subsidies to extend the funding for subsidized children. 6. Accountability By embracing these guiding principles, and the two goals laid out by the roundtable, the collaborative, along with a hired expert consultant will develop a universal preschool plan; examine financing options for preschool at the local level; and develop facilities estimates and plans. The product produced at the end of this planning process will not only determine the needs and resources needed to implement this program but it will also be a guide for implementing this universal preschool program. Proposed Budget, Timeline and Personnel: The grant request of the Packard Foundation is $75,000. These dollars will be used to provide professional facilitation of the universal preschool planning process including, but not limited to, the development of a city-wide facilities and finance plan for the universal pre-school program. The Mayor's office, along with all of the Education Roundtable partners will develop and implement comprehensive leadership developments and community engagement strategies. There are currently a variety of technical advisors assigned to the universal preschool initiative. The technical advisory group (TAG) is made up of a staff member from each of the agencies involved in the Mayor's Education Roundtable. The TAG is called on to complete technical items as they occur— such as the AB 172 application mentioned earlier in this proposal. In addition to being support for the professional consultant, the TAG will continue to work on other opportunities—like AB 172—as they present themselves. It is anticipated that each member of the TAG will dedicate, over the course of this planning grant, 100 hours to the planning process. In addition to the 600 hours of in-kind service provided by the members of the TAG, the Mayor has also designated a staff person within the Mayor's Office to organize, shepherd and direct early childhood education efforts within the city. Approximately 15% of this staff person's duties are made up of early childhood education work. The Mayor's Office will also serve as the primary sponsor for community meetings, forums and stakeholder surveys that will be organized by the hired consultant. With the personnel resources identified, the Mayor's Education Roundtable feels it can match any grant funds awarded. City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 4 of 7 The planning process may cover a time period of 18-24 months. A necessary component of the planning process is the establishment of and adherence to a timeline for planning. This serves as a reference for tracking progress during the various planning stages and should be continuously updated. The timeline provided below is a first attempt at the preparation of a timeline for the preschool services consultant and other relevant staff assigned to the planning project. As this process moves forward and a consultant is procured, the timeline will be shared with all participants in the process as well as other stakeholders. TIMELINE: This timeline is based on the assumption that the grant could be fulfilled by October 1, 2007. The planning process should be pushed back according to the availability of funding to procure the planning consultant. By November 1, 2007: • RFP Solicitation for Preschool Services Consultant. The Mayor's Education Roundtable will solicit proposals from qualified firms or individuals to be the Roundtable's preschool services planning consultant. • Mayor's Education Roundtable will identify individual champions. By December 10, 2007: • Selection of Preschool Services Consultant. After the consultant is Q selected by the Mayor's Education Roundtable, city staff and important stakeholders will engage in 4 weekly meetings to determine planning and meeting timelines for deliverables of the preschool consultant. These meetings will conclude by November 28, 2007. • Mayor's Education Roundtable will begin developing education and advocacy materials to be used with individual champions and the public. Starting January 1, 2008: • Initiate stakeholder meetings and public hearings on the city's universal preschool program. • Consultant will have identified and begin gathering needed data and information for the formation of the universal preschool program. Data gathering and analysis will be ongoing throughout the first quarter of 2008. • Mayor's Education Roundtable will continue its role in promoting early childhood education with annual events such as San Bernardino Story Time. This increases public awareness. By April 1, 2008: • The analysis of facility and financial data will be completed and can be used for the formation of plans to secure and procure the necessary funding and facility resources. • Initiate the establishment of plans and policies necessary to create training and career development programs for teachers and aides in the city's community college and university. City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 5 of 7 Initiate planning activities relative to the establishment of a citywide ,r universal preschool "Authority"in preparation for transferring the duties for coordination and program planning and services to that entity. By October 1, 2008: • Draft plans for facility expansion will be completed. • Draft plans and policies for teacher recruitment and education will be completed. • Draft plans for wrap-around care and other daycare needs will be completed. • Draft plans for universal curriculum and classroom activities will be completed. Starting January 1, 2009: • Universal preschool plan to be delivered to all members of the Mayor's Education Roundtable. Plans will also be adopted and accepted by all relevant bodies such as the County Board of Supervisors and the Common Council of the City of San Bernardino. • Complete transfer of programs and functions to the "Authority." This timeline establishes proposed dates for major milestones. Many other tasks and issues will also be considered and worked through during this period. 0 0 City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 6 of 7 Key Staff Members: D'Ann K. Lanning Office of the Mayor City of San Bernardino James Moses Child Care and Development Coordinator San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Cynthia White-Piper School Linked Services San Bernardino City Unified School District Ron Griffin Department of Pre-school Services County of San Bernardino Juliann Martin Chair, Child Development and Family and Consumer Science Department San Bernardino Valley College City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 7 of 7 1 RESOLUTION NO. 2 RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY 3 OF SAN BERNARDINO RATIFYING THE SUBMITTAL OF A GRANT APPLICATION TO THE DAVID AND LUCILLE PACKARD FOUNDATION, AND 4 AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER OR HIS DESIGNEE TO EXECUTE GRANT 5 DOCUMENTS 6 NOW, THEREFORE, THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: 7 SECTION 1. The grant application submitted to the David and Lucille Packard 8 9 Foundation on September 1, 2007 is hereby ratified, a copy of which is attached hereto, marked 10 Exhibit "A" and incorporated herein by reference as though fully set forth at length. 11 SECTION 2. The City Manager or his designee is hereby authorized to execute 12 grant documents, as may be requested by The Packard Foundation from time to time. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 /// I . 1 2 RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO RATIFYING THE SUBMITTAL OF A GRANT 3 APPLICATION TO THE DAVID AND LUCILLE PACKARD FOUNDATION, AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER OR HIS DESIGNEE TO EXECUTE GRANT 4 DOCUMENTS 5 6 I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted by the Mayor 7 and Common Council of the City of San Bernardino at a meeting thereof, held on the 8 day of , 2008,by the following vote, to wit: 9 10 Council Members: AYES NAYS ABSTAIN ABSENT 11 ESTRADA 12 BAXTER 13 BRINKER 14 DERRY 15 KELLEY 16 17 JOHNSON 18 MC CAMMACK 19 20 City Clerk 21 The foregoing resolution is hereby approved this day of 22 2008. 23 24 Patrick J. Morris, Mayor 25 City of San Bernardino Approved as to 26 Form: 27 JAMES F. PENMAN, 28 City Attorney By: Attachment A: OFFICE OF THE MAYOR PATRICK J. MORRIS 300 North"D"Street•San Bernardino•CA 92418-0001 909.384.5133 Fax: 909.384.5067 San Bernr 1110 www.sbcity.org September 1, 2007 Dr. Jeff Sunshine Program Officer David and Lucile Packard Foundation 300 Second Street Los Altos, California 94022 Dear Dr. Sunshine, On behalf of the City of San Bernardino and the Mayor's Education Roundtable I am submitting this proposal for planning funding to the Dave and Lucile Packard Foundation. As the Mayor, I believe whole-heartedly in giving our children every opportunity to grow and succeed, this includes the opportunity to attend pre-school. As study after study has shown,pre- school can make all the difference in a young person's life. As I am sure you are aware, the City of San Bernardino is severely underserved by pre-school programs. I served 30 years as a Superior Court Judge, most of those years presiding in juvenile and family court. Prior to my bench appointment I served for many years on the San Bernardino Unified School District Board of Trustees. Those professional and civic experiences brought with them opportunities to study and learn about the importance of giving ALL children a healthy start in life. It became clear to me, confirmed by all the studies---children who attended quality pre-school programs did not end up failing, dropping out and in front of a judge. As the attached proposal makes clear, our city's public school system is highly challenged in its attempts to meet the educational needs of our children and youth. Our city will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2010 and we are proud of our historic status as the county seat of the nation's largest county. But with that age comes a housing stock that is the oldest and "most affordable"in inland Southern California. It has attracted an unusually large population of families on public assistance and first generation immigrants. Twenty-five percent of our students are non-English speaking and 52 percent are receiving free and reduced meals. We suffer from the highest school dropout rate in the region, 32 percent for the four year drop out rate. Upon becoming the mayor of San Bernardino I resolved to gather all of the educational policy-makers around the table and form an ongoing collaborative to address the issue of universal pre-school. Thus the Mayor's Educational Roundtable was reconstituted. In an effort to more fully support our pre-school aged population, we have joined forces with our local education partners to begin to define and implement what will someday become a city-wide pre-school for all program. Our partners include the County of San Bernardino's Pre- school services department, San Bernardino Valley College, California State University, San Bernardino, the San Bernardino County Office of Education and the San Bernardino City Unified School District. Our collaboration is essential, and unique, to provide a solid foundation for all children entering kindergarten, ensuring their success in our local school system. Attached to this proposal you will find letters of support and commitment from all of the institutions involved in the Roundtable and all of our local elected state officials. The requested 18-24 month, $75,000 planning grant will enable this collaborative to move to the next step in a universal pre-school program for the City of San Bernardino. We have established a solid base of support for this concept. Our supporters include local and state elected officials and all of the major education leaders in our community. Letters of support and pledges to stay involved partners are attached to this proposal. I could not be more excited about this proposal and I hope that we can work together to make our dream of preparing all young children for school a reality. If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this proposal please do not hesitate to call me or D'Ann Lanning, the project manager in my office. Respectfully yours, Patrick J. Morris Philosophy: We believe that it is important to encourage and foster the growth of the whole child. Early childhood education should include all areas of emotional, social,physical and intellectual development. The ages of three to five are crucial periods in a child's education and development. We believe that all children should have access to early education programs. Pre-school and family f l y literac y help lay the foundation for academics, social interaction skills, as well as build self-esteem and self-confidence in a child. We believe in providing a foundation for success for each child by giving them the highest quality child development and family support services. Our goal is to encourage children to maximize growth cognitively, emotionally, socially and physically. We believe that each child should be treated as an individual personality with each child's individuality being respected and cherished, building self-esteem and fostering a child's positive perspective of their future. Background Information: A great city needs great educational institutions,where quality learning takes place. The City of San Bernardino is fortunate to be the host city to a highly respected state university and a community college of stature. The city has a number of learning centers where quality workforce training is taking place. However, our city's unified school district is struggling to meet the educational needs of a highly challenging cohort of 57,000 students, 25% of whom are non- English speakers. The struggles of our school district, one of California's largest,mirror those of other large urban districts throughout the Golden State. As the schools go, so goes the city. The most often asked question by good families deciding if they are going to move to your city is, "How good are the schools?" Therefore, mayors must be concerned and wherever possible involved partners with the schools to improve learning. When Mayor Patrick J. Morris took office,he created the Mayor's Education Roundtable. It is a think tank of sorts for education policy in the City of San Bernardino. Partners include San Bernardino City Unified Superintendent, Dr. Arturo Delgado,Dr. Al Karnig,President of Cal State University,Dr. Don Averill, Chancellor of the San Bernardino Valley Community College Distrcit, Denise Whittaker, President of Valley College and Dr. Herb Fischer, Superintendent of County Schools. Other leaders are added when issues of mutual concern arise. For instance,the Roundtable includes Richard Jarvis, the Executive Director of San Bernardino County's First 5, as we work on early childhood education issues. Mayors are uniquely positioned to establish quality public education as the highest priority of a city. Regardless of the degree of control over schools they exercise,they are in a position to focus city government resources on the improvement of the education system. They also are in a position to form the coalitions of city government agencies, school officials, business leaders and community leaders that must work together to support school systems. The expert consultant will build on this political platform to raise awareness and support city-wide. At the Roundtable's directive, the Mayor's Office at the City of San Bernardino is working to promote,plan and implement a city-wide universal preschool program. Our nation's City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 1 of 7. experience with the Headstart Program and the state's experience with State Pre-school make it clear that a preschool learning experience makes a profound positive impact on a child's educational success. The roundtable partnership is working on a universal pre-school program for every 4 year old in our city. The collaboration of these major institutions is unique and quite J q q frankly very rarely in the State of California has a group of education leaders and a mayor joined hands to promote a common educational goal this broad and this deep. It is our duty to help create involved and concerned constituents, to train and develop an adequate workforce and to prepare our city to move into the future. By focusing on early childhood education, all children in the City of San Bernardino will have the proper foundation upon which to build a life of success. As a first step towards the collaborative's goal of city-wide pre-school,we participated in the AB 172 application process. AB 172 is the Pre-kindergarten and Family Literacy Act passed by the California Legislature in 2006. AB 172 funding is being used to augment and expand services already provided within our city. This was a vital and pivotal launching point for our comprehensive effort. The AB-172 application, led by the San Bernardino City Unified School District,put us on a path to success, reaching our goal of some day providing pre-school for all in this critically underserved city. The David and Lucille Packard Foundation grant will enable the collaborative to continue this forward progress. Preschool education and the implementation of new programs is politically and socially a "hot button"right now. The trend,when carried out with haste and without thorough community planning with all stakeholders involved, could ultimately be counterproductive to the needs of children, families and community development. The purpose of this planning grant proposal is to ensure that the City of San Bernardino has the resources too thoroughly and collaboratively plan for the implementation of a universal pre-school program. Demonstrated Need: The San Bernardino City Unified School District, County Pre-school Services and many private providers strive hard to provide adequate preschool services within the City of San Bernardino. While these efforts are admirable, there is an unmet need for the acceptance of all 4 year olds into a rigorous and structured pre-school program. Based on data from the California Department of Education the City of San Bernardino has an unmet pre-school need of over 2,892 slots.' There are 33 elementary schools in the City of San Bernardino that rank at the Base API Levels 1-3, 23 of those rank at Level 1.2 These underachieving schools produce underachieving young adults. Early childhood education is an important tool in combating low educational achievement. As the Packard Foundation is keenly aware,pre-school programs have proven benefits to children and society. Research shows that children who attend quality preschool are more skilled in reading and math, less likely to be placed in special education or held back a grade, better behaved in class and more likely to graduate from high school. Research also shows that preschool benefits society as a whole; children who attend quality preschool are less likely to be involved in crime, more likely to earn higher incomes as adults, and less likely to become 1 This data is based on statistics gathered on 2002 births,licensed center-based pre-schools and determined unmet need as provided by the California Department of Health Services and the California Department of Education. Z http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2007 City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 2 of 7. pregnant as teenagers. These are important milestone markers in the City of San Bernardino which is severely challenged by these very issues. The City of San Bernardino and the Mayor's Education Roundtable not only are working towards universal pre-school to satisfy an unmet need of city youth, but also to promote and enhance economic development. A recent California-specific report by the RAND Corporation found that a quality universal preschool program would produce multiple benefits for California society and generate a return of$2.62 for every dollar invested. These statistics can not be ignored by local government. Proposed Planning Program Goals: The City of San Bernardino recognizes the importance of school readiness for the success of our future generations. Every child should have every opportunity to grow and succeed, this includes the opportunity to attend pre-school. As study after study has shown, pre-school can make all the difference in a young person's life. The City of San Bernardino is severely underserved by pre-school programs. The City of San Bernardino has two goals for this planning process. One,raise public awareness and support for universal pre-school and two,plan and implement a city-wide universal preschool program. There is a two tiered approach to achieving these goals and satisfying the planning mission. The Mayor's office will be responsible, through its partners in the Mayor's Education Roundtable to establish strong advocacy and leadership networks city, county and statewide for the expansion of pre-school programs. The Mayor's office will identify and educate individual champions and pursue media interest to educate the public about the importance of early childhood education. It is also the responsibility of the Mayor's office to cultivate political support at all levels of government. It is through the work outlined above that that City of San Bernardino will meet goal one—raising public awareness and support for universal pre-school. The second goal will be reached by employing an expert consultant,partially sponsored by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, to establish a flagship pilot universal pre-school program in the City of San Bernardino. The universal program will include facilities development strategies,program financing strategies and development of quality pre-school programs with access for all. A major component of this plan and program includes the engagement of an expert consultant who will conduct such activities as develop strategic communications; create a community-wide stakeholder advisory group to mentor and monitor the planning process; and conduct community forums and other public events to bring awareness and support for the universal program. The Education Roundtable embraces the National Child Care Association's six principles for guiding community pre-school programs: 1. Parent Choice 2. Community Planning Partnerships and Collaboration 3. System Structure a) Continue collaboration and partnerships with the private early care and education community to ensure the maximization of existing infrastructures, expertise and "instant"capacity. b) Build programs on existing agency structure, funding streams and quality measures. City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 3 of 7 i 4. Program Structure a) "At risk"children are best served by integration with their peers. b) Preschool classrooms must have qualified early childhood teachers who are trained in early education and have the aptitude to nurture young children. C) The needs of working parents must be incorporated into preschool systems and we should make systems "seamless" for working families. d) The needs of young children must be reflected in preschool environments. e) Children in all pre-k settings must be given equal protection through the regulation and enforcement of minimum health and safety licensing standards. f) Outcome evaluation measures are imperative. 5. Funding a) Public-Private Partnerships must be equitably and adequately funded at the full cost of providing the service. b) Parents must be considered partners in programming and in the payment of fees creating the ability to leverage fees with subsidies to extend the funding for subsidized children. 6. Accountability By embracing these guiding principles, and the two goals laid out by the roundtable, the collaborative, along with a hired expert consultant will develop a universal preschool plan; examine financing options for preschool at the local level; and develop facilities estimates and plans. The product produced at the end of this planning process will not only determine the needs and resources needed to implement this program but it will also be a guide for implementing this universal preschool program. Proposed Budget, Timeline and Personnel: The grant request of the Packard Foundation is $75,000. These dollars will be used to provide professional facilitation of the universal preschool planning process including, but not limited to, the development of a city-wide facilities and finance plan for the universal pre-school program. The Mayor's office, along with all of the Education Roundtable partners will develop and implement comprehensive leadership developments and community engagement strategies. There are currently a variety of technical advisors assigned to the universal preschool initiative. The technical advisory group (TAG) is made up of a staff member from each of the agencies involved in the Mayor's Education Roundtable. The TAG is called on to complete technical items as they occur— such as the AB 172 application mentioned earlier in this proposal. In addition to being support for the professional consultant, the TAG will continue to work on other opportunities—like AB 172— as they present themselves. It is anticipated that each member of the TAG will dedicate, over the course of this planning grant, 100 hours to the planning process. In addition to the 600 hours of in-kind service provided by the members of the TAG, the Mayor has also designated a staff person within the Mayor's Office to organize, shepherd and direct early childhood education efforts within the city. Approximately 15% of this staff person's duties are made up of early childhood education work. The Mayor's Office will also serve as the primary sponsor for community meetings, forums and stakeholder surveys that will be organized by the hired consultant. With the personnel resources identified, the Mayor's Education Roundtable feels it can match any grant funds awarded. City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 4 of 7 The planning process may cover a time period of 18-24 months. A necessary component of the planning process is the establishment of and adherence to a timeline for planning. This serves as a reference for tracking progress during the various planning stages and should be continuously updated. The timeline provided below is a first attempt at the preparation of a timeline for the preschool services consultant and other relevant staff assigned to the planning project. As this process moves forward and a consultant is procured, the timeline will be shared with all participants in the process as well as other stakeholders. TIMELINE: This timeline is based on the assumption that the grant could be fulfilled by October 1, 2007. The planning process should be pushed back according to the availability of funding to procure the planning consultant. By November 1, 2007: • RFP Solicitation for Preschool Services Consultant. The Mayor's Education Roundtable will solicit proposals from qualified firms or individuals to be the Roundtable's preschool services planning consultant. • Mayor's Education Roundtable will identify individual champions. By December 10, 2007: • Selection of Preschool Services Consultant. After the consultant is selected by the Mayor's Education Roundtable, city staff and important stakeholders will engage in 4 weekly meetings to determine planning and meeting timelines for deliverables of the preschool consultant. These meetings will conclude by November 28, 2007. • Mayor's Education Roundtable will begin developing education and advocacy materials to be used with individual champions and the public. Starting January 1, 2008: • Initiate stakeholder meetings and public hearings on the city's universal preschool program. • Consultant will have identified and begin gathering needed data and information for the formation of the universal preschool program. Data gathering and analysis will be ongoing throughout the first quarter of 2008. • Mayor's Education Roundtable will continue its role in promoting early childhood education with annual events such as San Bernardino Story Time. This increases public awareness. By April 1, 2008: • The analysis of facility and financial data will be completed and can be used for the formation of plans to secure and procure the necessary funding and facility resources. • Initiate the establishment of plans and policies necessary to create training and career development programs for teachers and aides in the city's community college and university. City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 5 of 7. • Initiate planning activities relative to the establishment of a citywide universal preschool "Authority"in preparation for transferring the duties for coordination and program planning and services to that entity. By October 1, 2008: • Draft plans for facility expansion will be completed. • Draft plans and policies for teacher recruitment and education will be completed. • Draft plans for wrap-around care and other daycare needs will be completed. • Draft plans for universal curriculum and classroom activities will be completed. Starting January 1, 2009: • Universal preschool plan to be delivered to all members of the Mayor's Education Roundtable. Plans will also be adopted and accepted by all relevant bodies such as the County Board of Supervisors and the Common Council of the City of San Bernardino. • Complete transfer of programs and functions to the"Authority." This timeline establishes proposed dates for major milestones. Many other tasks and issues will also be considered and worked through during this period. City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 6 of 7. Key Staff Members: D'Ann K. Lanning Office of the Mayor City of San Bernardino James Moses Child Care and Development Coordinator San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Cynthia White-Piper School Linked Services San Bernardino City Unified School District Ron Griffin Department of Pre-school Services County of San Bernardino Juliann Martin Chair, Child Development and Family and Consumer Science Department San Bernardino Valley College City of San Bernardino Universal Pre-school Program Grant Proposal,Page 7 of 7