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FAMILY MEMBER MATTERS ■ BY DONNA SCARAMASTRA GORMAN
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Falling Behind: The Need for
Overseas Preschool Subsidies
When 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 schedule — 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 understand 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 prevent accidents or cope with disasters.
When our family was assigned to
our current post, Beijing, I began casting 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 paying 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 educational 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’m worried 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 students are expected to learn to read in kindergarten, this developmental gap is harmful to our kids.
In short, our children need preschool to perform competitively in kindergarten. But we can’t afford the international 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 conjunction 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 September, and I promptly enrolled him in kindergarten, so
this doesn’t concern him, either. But my friends and neighbors 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 opportunities for their youngest kids.
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. 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 Ne wsweek, the Washington Post , the Christian Science
Monitor, and the Foreign Service Journal.
Sheandherfamilyarecur-rently posted in Beijing, where her husband is the deputy regional security officer.
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.
