The Foreign Service Journal, May 2009

Falling Behind: The Need for Overseas Preschool Subsidies W hen we were posted to Kazakhstan several years ago, we couldn’t afford preschool tuition at the State Department-approved international school. So we chose the only other option we could find. Our son’s preschool charged about $15 per day for a part-time sched- ule — about $3,000 for 10 months. Sure, the school itself was a bit ramshackle. Okay, it was decrepit — we wouldn’t even have considered such a school in the States. There were no locks on the doors, and the playground was a work in progress. The teachers cooked lunch on a hot plate in the kitchen, and they put in a pool themselves — a wooden tub, lined with plastic, near the front door. They couldn’t under- stand why the American parents were all horrified by that pool. (“But we watch the kids carefully! What could possibly happen?”) Still, it was a school, and our son needed a school. The teachers loved the kids and taught them well, in Russian and English. I was happy enough with our little school, if a bit nervous about the staff’s ability to pre- vent accidents or cope with disasters. When our family was assigned to our current post, Beijing, I began cast- ing about for a preschool for our son, then 4 years old. Here there are lots of schools that cater to foreigners. Unfortunately, they all charge exorbitant fees. The tuition for a preschooler at the main international school is almost $20,000 a year — and that isn’t the most expensive one. We looked and looked, but we weren’t able to find a school we could afford. We’re not the only ones. On the good days, mothers here joke about choosing between saving for college or pay- ing for preschool. On bad days, we obsess over whether our kids will be able to catch up to their more educated peers once they enter kindergarten, the year in which the State Department finally kicks in and helps fund our children’s education. One of the best things about living overseas is the edu- cational opportunity provided to my older children. My eldest is a third-grader at one of the international schools here, and I’m grateful for every opportunity he gets at this school (even if he disagrees). The facility and the faculty are amazing, and the State Department’s payment allows my son to attend. But I’mworried about my younger kids. Without a solid preschool foundation, how can they be ready for the rigors of this school? Children of private-sector expatriates, whose companies pay for preschool, enter kindergarten far ahead of our Foreign Service kids. Kindergarten is no longer about playing, as it was a generation ago; when stu- dents are expected to learn to read in kindergarten, this de- velopmental gap is harmful to our kids. In short, our children need preschool to perform com- petitively in kindergarten. But we can’t afford the interna- tional schools on a government salary. Budgets are tight, both for State Department families and within State itself. But one way to lure families like ours to critical-needs posts such as Beijing is to subsidize the cost of preschool education. Regional educational officers, working in con- junction with Community Liaison Officers and the Family Liaison Office, could consider each post on a case-by- case basis. If it is determined that there are no safe, affordable preschool options at post, then State should kick in and subsidize the cost of preschool for the 4-year-old crowd. Think of it as a Head Start program for our youngest diplomats. My daughter, just 2 years old, would not be immediately affected by such a policy change. My son turned 5 in Sep- tember, and I promptly enrolled him in kindergarten, so this doesn’t concern him, either. But my friends and neigh- bors here all worry about how to pay for school, and I know several families who have decided not to bid on Beijing, or have declined to extend, because they want better oppor- tunities for their youngest kids. If the State Department wants to make it easier to fill as- signments in Beijing and other expensive cities around the world, it should consider helping families pay for their pre- school education during the year before kindergarten. Such a move would boost morale, both for Foreign Service adults and the little ones who follow them from post to post. ❏ Donna Scaramastra Gorman is a freelance writer whose work has been published in Newsweek , the Washington Post , the Christian Science Monitor, and the Foreign Service Journal. She and her family are cur- rently posted in Beijing, where her husband is the deputy regional se- curity officer. FS VOICE: FAMILY MEMBER MATTERS ■ BY DONNA SCARAMASTRA GORMAN If the State Department wants to make it easier to fill assignments in Beijing and other expensive cities around the world, it should consider helping families pay for their preschool education during the year before kindergarten. 50 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 9 A F S A N E W S