Erie Reader: From the Editors
The editors of the Erie Reader take a stand in support of pre-K in this editorial:
“Of the 296,957 children ages 3 and 4 in Pennsylvania, 208,991 don’t have access to high-quality pre-K learning opportunities. More shocking yet, 178,795 — or 60 percent — of those children live in families below 300 percent poverty, and currently there are only enough public funds to make pre-K available for less than 20 percent of 3 and 4-year old statewide. Furthermore, a new report by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) reveals that Pennsylvania ranks 30th out of 41 states that provide high-quality pre-k to 4-year-olds.
In Erie County alone, 6,864 children don’t have access to that high-quality pre-K education. And if current poverty trends have taught us anything, that number simply won’t reduce itself.
That’s why in a year in which we’ll either re-elect our current governor or decide someone else is a better fit for the job, as well as make critical decisions for who represents us in the state legislature, we want to turn our attention — and yours — to the PreK for PA initiative to help ensure this issue gets the attention it deserves from those making the funding decisions in Harrisburg.”
Read the full story here.
