LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Many Kentucky families have to factor in the cost of preschool into their monthly budgets.
For some, that price can be daunting. For a Louisville mother with twin 3-year-olds who will soon turn 4-years-old, it is terrifying. That’s why Emily Domeck Sackella was intrigued when she heard Gov. Andy Beshear’s budget proposal includes universal, state-funded preschool for all Kentucky 4-year-olds.
Emily Domeck Sackella is a mother of three boys. Her eldest, Hunter, is in 3rd grade. She also has twins, Landon and Nicholas, who are 3-years-old. While that is a job in itself, she is also a realtor.
For a while, her twins were going to a Mother’s Day Out program part-time three days per week. That costs significantly less than full-day child care.
That worked for them until it didn’t. As many know, it’s been a busy housing market as of late. Something had to give.
“It just became way too difficult with an unpredictable work schedule like I have,” said Domeck Sackella. “It was always the cost that kept us from going to a committed full-time day care.”
Right now, she says day care is the family’s greatest expense, costing just shy of $2,000 per month for both boys to attend. Plus, keep in mind, that is with a discount for on one child since she has two currently going.
That’s a significant expense causing them to evaluate whether it even makes sense to work or if they would be better off financially if she stayed home, and they saved the child care cost. For them, it makes sense for her to continue to work.
“For us it makes sense, but I had a lot of other friends that it did not make sense, so they stayed home until their children went on to kindergarten,” said Domeck Sackella.
She said, for them, universal preschool would be life-changing. Even looking beyond just them, she says it could help a lot of families.
Her husband, Tod, works as a loan officer. He said day care and preschool expenses can often deter families from buying a home until their kids are in school.
Cost is likely a large reason the Department of Education estimates over 34,000 Kentucky 4-year-olds are not enrolled in preschool or Head Start.
Domeck Seckella said she thinks preschool is valuable. Her eldest son, Hunter, went to preschool when he was that age. Shes said it helped set him up to be ready for kindergarten.
“I think just getting in a setting where you can follow directions and not be a disturbance, is going to benefit all the children in the class,” Domeck Seckella said.
The governor’s budget proposal includes $172 million each year to fund universal preschool for all four-year-old children and continues the funding for full-day kindergarten.
Beshear said, combined with the $140 million provided in the last budget for full-day kindergarten, Kentucky now has provided school districts with the state resources to fully implement a preschool to 12th grade system.
The House passed its own budget bill, HB1, on Jan. 20. It was sent to the Senate for consideration. It was assigned to the Appropriations and Revenue Committee, but, as of Feb. 10, had yet to receive a hearing. You can keep up with the status of the bill here.