> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# District wants to control preschool again
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/district-wants-to-control-preschool-again/
- Published: 2006-11-07T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T22:03:08.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*District preschool pact would end partnership with the Easter Seals*

SMMUSD HDQTRS — The school district is considering resuming financial control over a $1 million preschool program in Santa Monica after a four-year absence from its general budget.

The school district dropped the full day and full year preschool program in 2001 after calculating that it could not continue the state-financed program without dipping into its general fund.

Since 2002, the program has continued thanks to a collaborative effort between the non-profit Easter Seals, which operates the preschools; Santa Monica College, which provides an additional $100,000 toward the program; and SMMUSD, which donates the classroom space at John Adams Child Development Center and Washington West.

The proposal to return oversight of the preschool program to the SMMUSD means that the partnership with Easter Seals will end. The resumption of the program should have no impact on the school district’s general budget since it anticipates a $900,000-a-year preschool grant from the state and plans to continue its partnership with SMC to receive the extra $100,000 a year, said Deputy Superintendent Timothy Walker.

The program is expected to continue at John Adams and in Washington West, 2802 Fourth Street, where the district’s Child Development Services Office is located. The returned state funds would be able to accommodate approximately 84 preschool children.

Staff is expected to change once the school district takes over, Walker said.

One of the issues with the current operation of the preschool is the high turnover in staff throughout the day. Preschool staff work in shifts of three to three and a half hours, Walker said. If the school district resumes control of the program, which is anticipated to be early next year, the staff will work longer shifts.

“With the turnover occurring with staffing from Easter Seals, the district wants to ensure a continuous high quality program is continued for the community,” Walker said. “This led us to engage in a conversation with Easter Seals as to its ability to provide consistency in staffing and program-ming.

“And that led to a conversation about the return of the grant to the school district,” he added.

The school district plans to send a letter to the California Board of Education, requesting it resume funding of the preschool program under SMMUSD.

After the district dropped the program from its budget, the California Board of Education rerouted preschool funding from SMMUSD to Easter Seals, which was charged in the Memorandum of Understanding with operating the program. Santa Monica College, one of two community colleges in the state without its own preschool, agreed to donate $100,000 a year and two teachers in exchange for 24 slots in the preschool for qualifying low-income SMC students with children.

The operating costs under Easter Seals was less expensive because its overhead, which included staffing, was lower than if SMMUSD provided the service, Walker said.

The new agreement, sans Easter Seals, which did not return calls for comment, would not affect the allotted number of slots for SMC students in the program, said Jenny Trickey, director of childcare services at SMC.

“It was a way to keep our foot in the door to offer child-care in the eyes of the community,” Trickey said.

The current situation with SMMUSD is perfect for SMC students since one of the two sites — John Adams CDC — is across the street from the college, said Laura Manson, department chair of Early Childhood Education at SMC.

SMC is currently working with the city of Santa Monica to find a site to build its own long-awaited preschool.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 7, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/110706.pdf?ref=smdp.com)