Petition Deliveries to Gubernatorial Candidates Highlight Growing Support for Pre-K
340 Organizations and Thousands of Pennsylvanians Have Signed on in Support of Access to High-Quality, State-Funded Early Learning Programs
Philadelphia, PA –Pre-K for PA grassroots organizers and supporters today delivered a petition signed by 340 supporting organizations from across the Commonwealth and 5,500 Pennsylvanians to the campaign of gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf, highlighting the rapidly growing support for access to high-quality pre-k for every 3- and 4-year-old in Pennsylvania. The same petition, which demonstrates the vast and diverse bipartisan support for this issue, will also be delivered to Governor Tom Corbett’s campaign next week. Support for access to high-quality pre-k has grown throughout the Commonwealth since the launch of the Pre-K for PA campaign in late January – just four months ago.
Organizers and supporters – including local parents and children – delivered the petition this morning to Tom Wolf’s South Philadelphia campaign office on Castle Avenue. Among them was South Philadelphia mom and Pre-K for PA supporter Jen Devor, who said “I am proud to help deliver this message to the candidates because Pennsylvania’s children deserve better. The next governor of Pennsylvania should make investing in high-quality pre-k a priority to help ensure that pre-k is accessible to all 3- and 4-years-olds, not just the privileged few.”
Between now and the general election, Pre-K for PA is aggressively expanding its leadership and grassroots support. While the campaign will not endorse, the goal is to reach more and more voters who will want the gubernatorial candidates to make a clear and convincing case that, if elected, he will make access to high-quality pre-k a reality for every 3- and 4-year-old in the Commonwealth by 2018.
In a recent open letter to the gubernatorial candidates, Pre-K for PA expressed a sincere willingness to work with each of the candidates to offer ideas for how that can happen. Polling shows this issue has broad bi-partisan support and that the Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly support increasing funding to ensure all children have access to high quality pre-k programs – even if it means raising their taxes.
Pre-K for PA is an issue campaign supported by individuals and organizations across Pennsylvania who believe that investing in our children is the right choice and an urgent necessity. Our vision is that every 3- and 4-year-old in Pennsylvania will have access to high-quality pre-k. We will not endorse nor oppose candidates, but rather we will advocate on behalf of this vision for Pennsylvania’s children, schools and communities.
News Coverage:
Congratulations on being chosen by your respective parties as candidates for governor in the 2014 general election.
Through the course of the primary campaign, you may have noticed a determined group advocating for a large segment of Pennsylvania citizens that can’t vote: children. Pre-K for PA launched in late January, and has since signed up thousands of Pennsylvanians who support our cause of making high-quality pre-k accessible to all 3- and 4-year-olds in Pennsylvania. Polling shows this issue has broad bi-partisan support.
Pre-K for PA has the support of many business leaders throughout the commonwealth. Among those leaders, we are proud that David L. Cohen penned an op-ed published last month in The Philadelphia Inquirer that stated: “Early-childhood education today is not just a ‘nice to have’ – it is an educational, moral, and societal imperative essential to building the workforce of the future. I am proud to support a statewide coalition (Pre-K for PA) of 10 leading organizations that are working to change the future for Pennsylvania’s children.”
Pennsylvania slipped on both preschool access and resource rankings in 2012-2013, according to the latest State of Preschool Yearbook from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). Pennsylvania now ranks 30th out of 41 states that provide pre-k access for 4-year-olds (down from 28th a year earlier), enrolling only 12 percent of 4-year-olds.
The State of Preschool report only underscores the urgency for making state investments in high-quality pre-k a priority. Many other states are more aggressively investing in pre-k because they know it has a proven, long-term return on investment. Pennsylvania needs to pick up the pace or risk falling further behind.
Only 1 in 6 of Pennsylvania’s 3- and 4-year-olds has access to high-quality, publicly funded pre-k. We ask that you make changing that dismal statistic a priority in your campaign for governor, because it is clear we can do much better.
Pre-K for PA is prepared to share with your campaign the many creative ways other states have broadened access to pre-k. The examples come from states as diverse as Oklahoma, Maryland, Illinois, West Virginia, Georgia, New York and more. What they have in common is the political will to provide the best opportunity for their youngest citizens.
Between now and the general election, Pre-K for PA will be aggressively expanding our leadership and grassroots support. While the campaign will not endorse, we will be reaching more and more voters who will want each gubernatorial candidate to make a clear and convincing case that, if elected, he will make access to high-quality pre-k a reality for every 3- and 4-year-old in the commonwealth by 2018. We hope to work with you to offer ideas for how that can happen while we grow our local support in ways that demonstrate to you the political wisdom of incorporating the goals of Pre-K for PA into your campaign’s policy goals in order to support a winning election strategy for governor.
Sincerely,
Sharon Easterling, Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children
Steven Wray, Economy League of Greater Philadelphia
Bruce Clash, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Steve Doster, Mission: Readiness
Jodi Askins, Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children
Blair Hyatt, Pennsylvania Head Start Association
Joan Benso, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children
Michelle Figlar, Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children
Donna Cooper, Public Citizens for Children and Youth
Diane Castelbuono, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey
Pre-K for PA has launched a petition for all PA children to have access to high-quality pre-kindergarten. Click here to sign it.
Win (4) tickets in the Mayor’s Box to see the Phillies versus the Mets on May 31. Every new signer of the petition through Tuesday, May 20 — Election Day — will be entered to win, as well as the person who referred him or her.
Help us hit 5,000 petitions by Election Day. Click here for more resources.
Guest Column: Investing in high quality Pre-K benefits children
Published 5/7 in Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and 5/14 in DelCo Times
By Jack Whelan and John W. Peck
The call for providing increased access to high quality pre-kindergarten programs is not a rallying cry heard only from educators. It’s one coming from all segments of the community — and for a good reason.
As prosecutors, our job is to hold criminal offenders responsible for their actions, which unfortunately also includes juvenile offenders. When we deal with them, we often think about their childhood and what led them to their criminal behavior. We see children and young adults who are on a self-destructive path and question: Could this have been prevented in the first place?
Read the full article:
Jack Whelan is the District Attorney of Delaware County and John W. Peck is the District Attorney of Westmoreland County. Information about the Pre-K For PA campaign can be found at www.prekforpa.org and about Fight Crime: Invest in Kids at www.fightcrime.org.
