Samual N. Brown, Allen Burnett, Charlie Praphatananda and Dara Yin have stories to tell.
Their time in prison was shrouded by their reality. Three of the four were charged with murder and sentenced to life without parole. It’s what one of them, who entered prison at 20, describes as death by incarceration.
Taking college courses had been going on for decades in California prisons, but in 2016, California State University Los Angeles became the first college to offer bachelor’s degrees to people in prison.
Now, eight of the state’s 34 adult prisons have started or are soon to begin partnerships that award four-year degrees, making California a leader in expanding college degree programs into the state’s prisons.
The trend touches only a sliver of incarcerated people, however. While California incarcerates about 95,600 people in its prison system, about 230 enrolled in the fall in a bachelor’s degree program. For the four men whose stories are told in this documentary, just the chance to earn the degree made it possible for them to see themselves living a different life outside of prison. Three ultimately got their sentences commuted. The fourth was paroled.
Read more:
Match your donation today
EdSource has been on it when big shifts happen – like the Department of Education shutting down many areas of their work. But we also remain committed to following the long-term stories in our communities and having an impact through our reporting.
Help us have an impact through data-driven, factual reporting. Your donation will be matched through June 11.
Malaya Peterkinand other preschoolers sat in bright blue chairs around a table on a recent afternoon, listening raptly to teacher Rachel Cepeda read a book about butterflies. Afterward, the children created butterfly-themed pieces of art.
Malaya, age 5, attends the Head Start program at the Sharon Geese Early Learning Center in the Del Paso Heights neighborhood of Sacramento. Her mother, Timeisha Seymore, is confident her daughter will be prepared for kindergarten next school year.
“She hasn’t started kindergarten yet, and she can already read,” Seymore said. “My son is doing math already. He’s 4. … You know, they are learning, they are bringing these tools, and we are just ecstatic about it.”
The children also learn science and, because of the diverse teacher workforce, languages that include Spanish and Mandarin, Seymore said.
Malaya Peterkin, 5, listens as Rachel Cepeda reads aloud at the Sharon Neese Early Learning Center in Sacramento on April 23, 2025.Credit: Randall Benton / EdSource
Seymore is among the many low-income parents who count on Head Start to prepare their children for kindergarten and to care for them while they work. The program, run locally by schools and nonprofit organizations, serves more than 750,000 children nationwide from birth to 5 years old.
Now, Head Start parents, teachers and other supporters are worried that potential cuts during federal budget negotiations could either reduce the number of children who can attend the program or eliminate it.
Program is more than child care
Students in the Head Start program, operated by the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA), spend their days learning through play in brightly colored classrooms filled with books, blocks, toys and games. Children on tricycles zoom around the fenced playground, play in a giant sandbox or climb on a jungle gym under the watchful eyes of school staff during recess.
“It’s an amazing place,” Seymore said. “I love Head Start. My family would not be the same without Head Start.”
The Sharon Neese Early Learning Center’s program serves 60 preschool students and 29 toddlers. It is one of more than 100 Head Start programs, serving a total of 4,400 students, that SETA operates at schools and other community sites in the Sacramento region.
Head Start not only teaches children foundational math and reading skills, they receive healthy meals, referrals to dental and medical services, and behavioral support, said Melanee Cottrill, executive director of Head Start California.
Head Start teachers, who work with students as young as 18 months, sometimes potty-train the children, teach them to wash their hands, how to eat healthy foods and how to take care of their bodies, said Annabel Stofer, who has been a teacher in the Sacramento program for 23 years.
Annabel Stofer, a 23-year Head Start teacher in Sacramento, says the federal program provides much more than quality child care. “We also support the family and the students to reach their potential, to connect them with resources, referrals, services that their children may need,” Stopher says.Credit: Randall Benton / EdSource
“Head Start is not just a great place for high-quality child care, we also support the family and the students to reach their potential, to connect them with resources, referrals, services that their children may need that they might not even know about,” Stofer said.
Head Start serves children in deep poverty
Head Start started in 1965 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. Itserves children who are homeless, in foster care, on public assistance or whose family income is below the federal poverty level — currently $32,150 annually for a family of four. A limited number of students from families with slightly higher incomes are eligible if space allows.
“In a family living in deep poverty, parents are focused on, how am I going to pay rent, how am I going to buy food,” Cottrill said. “They don’t have much capability to focus on A, B, C’s and 1, 2, 3’s.”
Early Head Start programs enroll children before they are born, allowing their mothers access to prenatal services and home visits. After the child’s birth, Head Start staff screen the baby for developmental delays. Children as young as 18 months can take part in Early Head Start classroom-based programs for toddlers.
Jackie Stephens had a home visit from a Head Start worker the morning she spoke to EdSource. The worker checked on her newborn son, Elijah, and offered lactation support. Stephens has been struggling to get Elijah to breastfeed. She tried to schedule an appointment with her medical provider but was told she would have to wait a week.
“Head Start is about children,” a teary-eyed Stephens said as she discussed the possible funding cuts. “I get the funding part, and I understand, I truly do. But you have to look at the bigger picture — on the effect that it’s having on these children, that it’s helping these parents who are trying to work, who are trying to do better for their family. For something to be ripped apart because of money, it just doesn’t seem right to me. … I pray that it doesn’t happen.”
Parents are involved
Family engagement is important at Head Start. Parents are involved at every level of the organization, including as members of the National Head Start board.
Teachers meet with parents throughout the year to ensure families aren’t in need of services and to develop educational plans for students. They also help families with their child’s transition to kindergarten — helping them navigate immunization and medical requirements and registration, Stofer said.
“We’re a family,” she said. “… I consider these children my grandchildren, too. I have three of my own. But these children are equally as important to me emotionally.”
Stofer finds it difficult to believe the program, in existence for 60 years, could be gone in one presidential administration.
“I can’t even imagine a world without Head Start,” she said.
But Head Start supporters say TK doesn’t offer all the services that low-income families need and that its shorter day isn’t long enough for working families. Head Start programs are generally available at least six hours a day.
About 75% of all Head Start programs also operate California State Preschool programs at their site with similar services and hours. Early childhood education programs often weave funding from both Head Start and the California State Preschool programs to provide or expand services to all their students.
But the state isn’t expected to increase funding for additional seats in the California State Preschool Program in the near future, Cottrill said. That means that while early childhood education programs might remain open if Head Start funds are cut, they may have to close centers or eliminate seats, she said.
California program meets local needs
California’s Head Start program is unique in that it is designed to meet local needs, Cottrill said. There are Head Start programs in homeless shelters, at schools, in community centers and in private homes.
Map: Head Start programs across California
Use the map to explore current Head Start programs across the state, including their status and capacity.
“One of my favorite examples is that we have a preschool program that is kitty-corner from a library, so they take the parents to the library, and they help them get their library card and access everything that the library has to offer,” Cottrill said. “So, really, it’s about uplifting the entire family.”
In rural areas of the state, Head Start staff make home visits, offering curriculum to parents and helping them understand their child’s development.
Cottrill is hopeful that Head Start will survive upcoming budget negotiations in Washington.
“What a tragedy it would be to end the program after 60 years of supporting the American Dream,” Cottrill said. “That’s really what we’re talking about, right? This program builds that. It sets people up on a path for success when they did not have it before.”
National University President Mark D. Milliron, right,,congratulates a graduating student at the university’s 2023 commencement.
Courtesy: National University
In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision to end race-conscious college admissions, the predicted impact has become a troubling reality. Many selective universities are reporting significant decreases in Black student enrollment this fall. This latest development continues a broader trend of declining Black postsecondary enrollment, which since 2010 has fallen at all U.S. colleges by nearly 30%.
These dire enrollment reports are emerging now as a growing number of states are eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs and services — and just four years after a nationwide reckoning on racial injustice. Whether colleges have become even more exclusive or if Black students are turning away from higher education, the results are the same: Our nation’s colleges and universities are becoming less diverse — and yet another barrier has been erected on the road toward increasing the number of Americans able to go to and graduate from college.
Despite bleak national trend lines, the state of California has just enacted a creative policy solution that will shine a spotlight on institutions that excel in educating and serving Black students. Senate Bill 1348, also known as the “Designation of California Black-Serving Institutions Act,” creates a state-level designation (BSI) to recognize the state’s public and independent colleges and universities where at least 10% or 1,500 students are Black.
The BSI designation is not just about enrollment numbers. It requires institutions to commit to providing essential services and resources to foster Black students’ academic success and meet their basic needs. For this reason, this proposal is a sound and logical policy prescription for California, which has the country’s fifth-largest population of Black people. It’s also a legislative innovation that other state and national policymakers should consider as American higher education is struggling to close completion and equity gaps and college demographics continue to grow more diverse.
The BSI concept draws inspiration from the success of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) — postsecondary institutions established before 1965 with the principal mission of educating African or Black Americans. Today, the nation’s 107 HBCUs have an impressive track record. They have graduated 40% of the nation’s Black engineers, 50% of America’s black lawyers and 80% of Black judges. Perhaps more than any other institution in this country, HBCUs have helped create economic and social mobility for millions of Black Americans.
However, most HBCUs are at least 75 years old — the majority were established in the 19th century — and are rarely found outside the South. For newer colleges and universities outside the South that serve diverse populations, a BSI designation would strengthen institutions and communities in multiple ways. It would offer a state seal of approval to institutions that are committed to serving Black students and willing to hold themselves accountable for the results. It also would help policymakers identify colleges and universities to receive targeted financial support and other resources.
This shift is particularly relevant given the changing demographics of today’s college students. Nontraditional, working and military students are fast becoming the norm. A third of today’s undergraduates are 25 or older. A quarter of them are raising children. About 40% of full-time students — and three-quarters of part-time students — are working while they’re in school. Because so many students are older, working full-time or raising families, it’s essential that institutions adapt to this new reality by offering flexible schedules, stackable credentials and comprehensive support services.
The BSI designation could be a valuable tool for states beyond California. In states with substantial Black populations but few or no HBCUs (California has just one HBCU, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science), it could help increase college access, improve completion rates and build a more skilled and educated workforce to fuel economic growth.
California’s proposal to recognize Black-serving institutions is a necessary — and long overdue — step toward acknowledging their critical role in reversing the decline in Black student enrollment and increasing access to higher education for historically underserved communities. Just as HBCUs have broadened access to education, California’s Black-serving institutions bill will reward colleges and universities statewide that are doing the vital work of serving the underserved students our economy and society need.
By investing in institutions committed to supporting Black students and other underserved groups, states can help foster stronger, more inclusive colleges and universities. Ensuring that more Black learners are on track to access and complete higher education will help California and other states produce the talented and inclusive workforce they need to compete in today’s fast-changing economy.
•••
Mark D. Milliron, Ph.D,is president, National University, a nonprofit private university based in San Diego with campuses across California as well as online. Thomas Stewart, Ph.D, is executive vice president and co-chair of the Social Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council, National University.
The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the authors. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
