Early childhood education is at risk as the Corporation of Public Broadcasting is shutting down after Congress cut its budget by $1.1 billion. Among other things, the cuts the Trump administration made are forcing PBS shows to move to paid streaming services.
This has sparked worry among those who grew up on shows like “Sesame Street,” which debuted in November 1969 and quickly became an educational tool for parents and school teachers.
Without these shows being accessible to everyone, educators are concerned that more of the burden will be placed on already strained school systems.
“We will have more kiddos coming to us who might need more individualized education plans,” said Jonathan Burton, an assistant principal at John B. Murphy Elementary School in Chicago. “There’ll be a lot of onus on the elementary schools to do more heavy lifting.”
He stressed how important these shows are for early childhood development.
“A lot of children in the earlier stages, before they even reach our realm of education, learn oracy — learn the beginning function of letter sounds,” Burton said.
Soon after the cuts were announced in May and before the order was signed, “Sesame Street” announced it would be moving onto Netflix where the lowest monthly subscription is $7.99 a month.
New episodes would be uploaded to PBS KIDS alongside Netflix, but the closure of Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS, puts that at risk.
The fate of PBS, viewed by 15.5 million monthly users, is still unknown. Although not on the same scale, budget cuts have forced New Jersey PBS, the state’s lone public broadcast station, to shut down next year.
Isabela Belle, a nanny who babysits as a side job, criticized the shift to a pay-to-view format these shows are adopting, calling these shows “important for kids.”
She says parents shouldn’t have to pay to find “child-friendly and safe content.”
Belle suggested that parents could replace subscription-based shows with internet shows like “Cocomelon” that are free, but she worried that they might not be as educational as PBS shows.
“Even if you were low-income or high-income, you could have educational shows for your kids,” she said.
Many people have relied on public broadcasting to help educate their children. And for the 6.8 million U.S. households that don’t have internet, PBS is one of the few free services.
This can disproportionately affect low-income families and those living in rural areas who might not have the money or the infrastructure for an alternative.
If PBS KIDS were to continue running only as an app, those who don’t have Wi-Fi or a device like a mobile phone or tablet still wouldn’t be able to access it.
Jean Buckler, a resident of Chicago and nanny who grew up watching PBS shows as a child, believes the cuts are meant to help low-income families.
“It’s a really good resource for kids that can’t get to school,” she said. “It’s definitely targeted to individuals who can’t afford schools, especially a private preschool.”
However, many families will still have access to PBS shows because they already have these subscriptions. Netflix has 81.44 million subscribers in the U.S, and more than 300 million worldwide.
Burton reflected on the effect that cutting free access to PBS children’s shows will have on families and schools.
“Essentially, that’s just widening the gap that we already have in education,” he said. “It won’t affect the ‘haves,’ but you’ll probably see a double and triple effect of the ‘have-nots’ who are not able to afford that program.”
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