Your Sept. 3 news article and Sept. 6 editorial on pre-K painted a rosy picture of its growth in Maine. However, there are other aspects.

When 4-year-olds enrolled in child care are enrolled in pre-K, the child care programs lose revenue, which could jeopardize a small program, such as a family child care center, putting at risk access to infant and toddler care in a community, of which there is always a shortage.

If a child remains enrolled in child care, pre-K adds two transitions to the child’s day plus time for transportation. Because pre-K only has to be 10 hours per week in Maine, when parents remove a child from child care, they often use patchwork care (relatives and recreation programs), saving money, but providing dubious benefit to the child.

Public schools, with better compensation, lure child care workers away. This year the Legislature and Gov. Mills raised public school teachers’ starting pay, exacerbating the pay gap and the worker migration.

These are only two examples of unintended consequences. The interrelationships in early childhood education system (home visiting, child care, Head Start and pre-K) and the consequences of changing any one part ought to be considered at the state and the local levels before altering any part of the system.

Perhaps the Department of Education’s federal grant (cited in the Sept. 3 article) and the revival of the state Children’s Cabinet will help bring about a more systematic and holistic method of serving our young children. Let’s hope so.

Dewey Meteer

Nobleboro