Experts Concerned About Chronic Pre-K Truancy

The AP (3/18, Thompson) reports on the efforts of attendance specialists in Buffalo, New York, to encourage improved attendance for pre-K students, noting that "educators say a district's youngest students are often among those with the worst attendance, in many cases because public preschool is not mandatory and parents regard it as little more than babysitting. It's a problem that needs to be addressed, experts say, especially after President Barack Obama's recent proposal to expand funding of voluntary public prekindergarten for any 4-year-old whose family income is 200 percent or less of the federal poverty level, a $47,100 threshold for a family of four." The AP adds that educators say that the promise of Obama's proposals can't be realized unless students show up for school.