Pennsylvania’s Working Families Need Greater Investment in Early Learning Services
2020-21 State budget proposal: modest growth for pre-k; fails to expand critical child care and evidence-based home visiting services
HARRISBURG, PA (February 4, 2020) –The principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five, are calling on the General Assembly to go beyond Governor Wolf’s budget proposal and prioritize greater state investments in high-quality pre-k, child care and evidence-based home visiting services to help Pennsylvania’s working families. ELPA operates three issue-based advocacy campaigns: Pre-K for PA, Start Strong PA, and Childhood Begins at Home. Reaction statements from these respective campaigns regarding Governor Tom Wolf’s 2020-21 budget proposal follow.
PRE-K
“Governor Wolf deserves to be acknowledged for his continuous support of expanded access to publicly-funded, high-quality pre-k in PA. If approved, his proposed $30 million in new state funding as part of the 2020-21 Executive Budget will provide the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of high-quality pre-k to more than 3,200 young learners.
“Research shows that high-quality pre-k benefits children’s cognitive, social and emotional development. This is why, according to recent polling, an overwhelming majority of Pennsylvania voters support investing additional state dollars to expand access to pre-k for children in every corner of the commonwealth.
“Unfortunately, only 44 percent of eligible children in Pennsylvania are currently enrolled in publicly-funded, high-quality pre-k, according to the most recent data available (FY 2018-19). That means 56 percent of eligible children do not have access to this vital early education opportunity due to limited state funding. We must do better, faster, if we are to move the needle on these dismal statistics. PA is being outranked by states like Georgia, Alabama and West Virginia when it comes to expanding access to publicly-funded, high-quality pre-k. PA ranks 19th –- a drop from the 2018 study — among the 28 states that also publicly fund high-quality pre-kindergarten programs with similar quality standards.
“Pre-K for PA, representing tens of thousands of Pennsylvania families, appreciates that policymakers in Harrisburg understand the irrefutable value of investing in high-quality pre-k. We strongly urge the General Assembly to make a bold move and boost funding for both access and quality to Governor Wolf’s proposed pre-k investment. By investing now, Pennsylvania can serve more eligible children and take steps to adjust quality pre-k provider rates for inflation.”
CHILD CARE
“Start Strong PA agrees with Governor Wolf that the critical shortage of affordable, high-quality child care is a major barrier to workforce participation for many Pennsylvania families.Given that 70 percent of Pennsylvania children under the age of five have all adults in their household in the labor force, high-quality child care is an essential workforce support. This finding was a focal point of the January 2020 Keystone Economic and Workforce Command Center reports — which included input from Pennsylvania business leaders — and recommended greater access to affordable high-quality child care.
“Start Stong PA is disappointed that the Governor’s budget proposal commits no new state funding to help Pennsylvania’s working families find and afford high-quality child care.
“Although the Governor’s budget proposal utilizes $15.3 million in federal funding toward child care subsidy base rates, this proposal will have no impact in addressing the list of children waiting to gain access to subsidized care or improve the quality of that care.
“Less than half of certified child care capacity in Pennsylvania currently meets high-quality standards. And only 34 percent of infants and toddlers that receive subsidized care attend programs that have met high-quality standards.
“Start Strong PA urges the Pennsylvania General Assembly to invest in our youngest children, their families and our workforce by allocating additional state funding for more children to gain access to high-quality child care.”
EVIDENCE-BASED HOME VISITING
“The Childhood Begins at Home campaign has credited the Wolf administration over the past three state budgets for making the state a national leader for delivering voluntary, evidence-based home visiting programs that ultimately improve maternal health, child well-being and family self-sufficiency.
“Unfortunately, the proposed $2.4 million included in the 2020-21 state budget is disappointing, because it does not build upon the steady progress of investing in evidence-based programs to expand services to additional children and families.
“We understand state funds will preserve federal slots through the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV) and support Medicaid managed care organizations offering short-term, in-home services for first-time mothers. However, the proposal is a missed opportunity as only 5 percent of the pregnant women, children and families who would benefit the most from evidence-based home visiting programs currently receive services.
“While we’re not losing ground, we’re not gaining it either, and building successful families by providing healthy and safe home environments through consistently demonstrated, evidence-based home visiting programs takes a greater commitment than maintaining the status quo.”
“From birth to age 5 early learning is happening, and our coalition of advocates is committed to ensuring that families can access it in high-quality, developmentally appropriate settings. The lack of state resources for early learning creates deep inequity among families at a very early age.We, and our tens of thousands of supporters, urge lawmakers to boldly invest in early learning in 2020 – it is an urgent necessity.”
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Reading Eagle: Report Calls on Harrisburg to Increase Pre-kindergarten Funding
January 28, 2019 by Dan Mekeel
Over the last five years, Pennsylvania has pumped $145 million in funding increases into the effort to make sure kids have access to high-quality prekindergarten programs.
The Pre-K for PA Campaign is looking for another $243 million.
In a report released Tuesday, the campaign says that Pennsylvania ranks 19th out of 28 states that provide high-quality, publicly-funded prekindergarten when it comes to how much money the states provide per student. The $966 per capita spending in Pennsylvania is less than a third of what the top state, New Jersey, spends.
The newest “The Road to Success Includes High-Quality Pre-K” is the third version of the annual report. In each, Pennsylvania has fared similarly, coming in at 20th in 2017 and 18th in 2018.
“We’ve really been hanging around the same range,” said Kari King, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnership for Children, a principal partner of The Pre-K for PA Campaign.
King said Tuesday that the importance of high-quality prekindergarten programs is well-known. Study after study has shown its positive impact on students both inside the classroom and out, helping to develop curiosity, problem solving and social and emotional skills and other traits.
Kids who go through the programs perform better on standardized tests, have higher graduation rates and are better prepared when they reach the workforce, she added.
Despite the obvious benefits, King said, there are still a lot of kids not getting the opportunity. Only 44% of the eligible 3- and 4-year-olds eligible for state-funded prekindergarten — as determined by financial need — are currently enrolled.
And that, she said, needs to change.
“If we don’t break down barriers to access for more children at-risk of failure, then we cannot expect them to enter adulthood prepared to make meaningful contributions to our economy and society,” King said.
That’s why King and others involved with the report are calling for the state to increase funding for prekindergarten by $243 million by the 2022-23 school year.
During a teleconference to discuss the report, a pair of men involved with efforts to increase prekindergarten funding in states that fare much better than Pennsylvania in the rankings shared their experiences.
Ken Sikkema, a former Michigan state Senate and House majority leader, said his state made a significant push to increase prekindergarten funding in 2013. Michigan ranked fourth in the report, spending $2,143 per student.
Sikkema said Michigan started a program to provide prekindergarten for low-income children in 1985, initially providing $1 million in funding. The program grew year after year, he said, sitting at about $70 million when he retired from politics in 2006.
Then, in 2012, a report came out that showed low-income students in the state who went to a quality prekindergarten program ended up being much more successful than the ones who didn’t.
“The results were really quite startling, to be honest with you,” Sikkema said.
Read the full article here.
Pennsylvania’s Ranking Stagnant Among States Investing in High-Quality Pre-K
New report shows states with similar political landscapes outpacing
PA in per capita pre-k investments
Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC), in its role as a principal partner of the Pre-K for PA Campaign, today released the Campaign’s third report comparing Pennsylvania’s per-capita investments in pre-k. The report shows states with similar political compositions and quality standards are making stronger per capita investments, putting their early learners on the road to success in school and in life at a faster pace than Pennsylvania.
According to The Road to Success Includes High-Quality Pre-K, Pennsylvania ranks 19th out of the 28 states that also publicly fund high-quality pre-kindergarten programs with similar quality standards, remaining nearly stagnant since the first state comparison report was released in 2017.
“Giving all eligible preschoolers a chance to attend high-quality pre-k should be a top priority for all of our state policymakers, regardless of political party affiliation,” said PPC President and CEO Kari King. “If we want to pave the way to success in adulthood for our early learners, we need to increase our investments in high-quality, publicly funded pre-k, because 56 percent of eligible children do not have access to this vital education.
When the Pre-K for PA Campaign released its first report comparing per capita pre-k investments in 2017, Pennsylvania ranked 20th out of 28 states and the District of Columbia that were analyzed. Another state-by-state comparison was done the following year in 2018, ranking Pennsylvania at 18th out of 30 states when looking at per capita investments in high-quality pre-k.
King noted the body of academic research supporting the benefits of high-quality pre-k goes back decades, revealing improved outcomes for enrolled children that are difficult to dispute: the programs prepare students for kindergarten and beyond by supporting the development of the whole child, provide an early chance at proactively impacting the development of Pennsylvania’s future workforce, and are particularly beneficial for low-income children, who are more likely to have road blocks along the way than their peers.
Michigan – where the political landscape is like Pennsylvania – has invested at a higher per capita rate than the Commonwealth and ranks 4th. Its General Assembly is controlled by Republicans and the governor is a Democrat.
During a media webinar PPC hosted as part of the report’s release, King was joined by: former Michigan Senate and House Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, a Republican who served in the state legislature for 20 years and was a champion for pre-k during his tenure; and Republican State Rep. Corley Ellis of Alabama, who advocates for pre-k funding as a member of the House Republican Caucus Agenda Committee and oversees education spending on the House Ways and Means Committee.
“I was not convinced we could move the needle for pre-k funding in Michigan until I read a study showing the longitudinal benefits. At the time, both the executive and legislative branches in Michigan were very conservative, but no one could argue that high-quality pre-k delivers results. That was in the 1990s and early 2000s, and Michigan has been a leader for its pre-k investments ever since,” said Sikkema.
“Alabama has a long history of Republican-led legislative and executive branches and we’re viewed as a pre-k model nationally. I’m proud that we’re ranked 5thin this report because it shows that it doesn’t matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat in state office, prioritizing high-quality pre-k is just good policy.”
In Pennsylvania, an increase of $243 million in high-quality pre-k (Pre-K Counts and the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program) by the 2022-23 fiscal year will put the state on par with others that deliver similar high-quality programs.
The Road to Success Includes High-Quality Pre-K can be found here.
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Erie Times: Christmas tree lights up Pennsylvania Capitol Rotunda
December 9, 2019
An 18-foot Douglas fir from Carbon County decorated with more than 900 LED lights and 1,600 handmade ornaments adorns the Capitol Rotunda after Monday’s tree-lighting ceremony.
Gov. Tom Wolf, First Lady Frances Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and his family joined hundreds of people for the ceremony. The Bishop McDevitt High School Chorale performed Christmas carols and Santa Claus made an appearance. Preschool students from Crispus Attucks Early Learning Center and the Bank Street Center of Capital Area Head Start and Keystone Human Services also took part.
The rotunda tree, and two others, will be lit daily through the week of Jan. 6.
“The Capitol Christmas tree stands as a symbol of hope and the holiday spirit and will be enjoyed by thousands of visitors for weeks to come,” Wolf said. “This is a wonderful time of year to come together with family and friends to celebrate the season. Let us reflect on our blessings and everything the holidays have to offer.”
The ornaments for the rotunda tree were donated by students and seniors throughout the commonwealth in coordinated with Pre-K for PA and the Department of Aging.
Read the article here.
WFMZ: Report: 7 in 10 Pennsylvania youth ineligible to enlist in military
November 14, 2019 By Dave Fidlin
A strong economy, coupled with a rising number of ineligible Pennsylvanians, has contributed to all-time lows in the number of people enlisting in the military, a new report revealed.
Mission: Readiness, a nonpartisan organization, held a news conference and took the wraps off its new workforce readiness report in Pennsylvania. The document outlines how competition for qualified people in all employment sectors is affecting military recruitment.
Steve Doster, state director of “Mission: Readiness,” said there are parallels between the public and private sectors on the state of today’s youth and their pathway to meeting the needs of unfilled positions.
While the labor shortage for skilled manufacturing jobs has been well publicized in recent years, Doster said the gap in qualified Pennsylvania youth entering all branches of the military is less known. He said the goal of the new report is to shed light on the seriousness surrounding the shortage.
“Our report shows that our military is not insulated from these gaps in workforce readiness,” Doster said.
At a news conference Tuesday, retired Army Lt. Gen. Dennis Benchoff pointed out some of the statistics related to military investment within Pennsylvania last year.
When 2018 came to a close, Benchoff said the Army missed its recruitment goal by about 6,500 persons, or 8.5 percent. Additionally, the Army National Guard and Army Reserve missed their goals last year to the tune of a combined 17,000 recruits within the state.
The military is in “fierce competition” with the private sector, Benchoff said – a common issue when the economy is on an upward swing.
But there are other factors at play with the shortage, Benchoff and others at the news conference said, pointing to a need to allocate more resources to fund early childhood education.
Seven in 10 Pennsylvania youth today cannot enlist in the military, simply because they are ineligible in one or more key categories.
The list of qualifications, off the bat, includes graduating high school, passing a military exam, having a clean criminal record and being in good health.
Read the full article here.
