As Multnomah County tries to map out Preschool for All’s financial future, it will spend $200,000 on a computer model that can calculate how much operating a preschool will cost in the coming decades.
On Thursday, county commissioners unanimously approved the line item, proposed by Commissioners Meghan Moyer and Julia Brim-Edwards, to hire a consultant to develop what’s called a “dynamic modeling tool” for providers’ operating expenses.
That model will forecast costs by understanding changes to “rent, wages and benefits, insurance, training, student to teacher ratios, materials and supplies, and more,” according to a statement by commissioners. The county is currently in talks with Prenatal to Five Fiscal Strategies, a nonprofit consulting firm that has done similar work on a statewide model for Oregon…