York Daily Record: Column: Pre-k is a Healthy Investment in Children
June 7, 2016
Growing up in York County, I was fortunate to have opportunities many children lack, including the opportunity to receive a quality education that prepared me for my career in pediatric medicine.
Today, as a pediatric resident at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, I have experienced first-hand how challenges in a child’s growth and development – if left unaddressed – can limit opportunities, including the opportunity to learn.
That is why I want to see the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania invest more in high-quality pre-kindergarten (“pre-k”) programs in the state budget. The years before a child enters kindergarten are a critical window for healthy cognitive, physical, social and emotional development, and the circumstances and experiences children have during these early years can shape their health and impact upon their success for a lifetime. Quality pre-k programs help put our children on a path to a lifetime of good health and success.
Unfortunately, too many young children face obstacles that hinder healthy development. These obstacles, including the effects of poverty and other adverse conditions beyond their control, which can fuel “toxic stress” – the type of extreme, persistent stress that can actually alter a child’s brain architecture in negative ways. Research shows one of the most effective ways to lessen the impact of toxic stress is through caring relationships and stable, supportive environments. High-quality pre-k programs provide such an environment, enabling young children to learn and develop free from the adverse conditions that can create persistent stress and anxiety.
High-quality pre-k programs not only prepare children for success in school and in life, but they also have been shown to promote good health in childhood as well as their development as they move into adulthood.
Research shows high-quality pre-k programs improve language, literacy and math skills as children enter kindergarten. These vital programs also reduce special education placements and increase the likelihood of high school graduation and college enrollment. From a health perspective, children who benefit from high-quality early learning programs tend to have better diets and exercise routines as adults, lower rates of smoking or substance abuse and lower risks of diabetes, stroke and/or heart disease. These health-related benefits not only help the child, they also help society by lowering health care costs, especially costs caused by chronic illnesses or disease.
Despite these many benefits for our children and our communities, the majority of 3- and 4-year-olds in Pennsylvania lack access to high-quality pre-k programs. According to the statewide Pre-K for PA campaign, more than 9,000 3- and 4-year-olds in York County alone lack access to high-quality pre-k. We can and should address this unmet need.
That is why I – along with the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics – strongly support the call for Pennsylvania legislative leaders to enact a state budget that increases funding for high-quality pre-k by $90 million in fiscal 2016-17 so an additional 7,400 children can benefit.
It’s worth noting that, even with such a new investment, more than 107,000 at-risk preschool children still would lack access to high-quality pre-k next year. This is why Pennsylvania needs to increase investments in the development of pre-k programs over multiple years, including the $90 million increase needed this year.
High-quality pre-k programs make sense and save all of us money in the long run. It’s time to step up Pennsylvania’s efforts to invest in these programs so more young learners can get off to a strong, healthy start.
Dr. Jaime L. Moellman is a pediatric resident at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital.
Read the column here.
Butler Eagle Letter to the Editor: Early prevention
June 4, 2016
We all know that education starts in the home. Parents are the first and foremost teacher of their children. All children should have safe and secure environments with able parents, but we know that’s not always the case.
Homes filled with abuse and neglect put children at increased risk of committing crimes later in life.
As district attorney, my duty is to administer justice to wrongdoers, but I can’t help wonder at times what if their criminal behavior had been prevented in the first place?
Fortunately, the 2016—17 Pennsylvania state budget proposes additional investments in our most vulnerable children and families that are proven to prevent future crime.
Included in the plan is an additional $10 million for voluntary home-visiting programs that help vulnerable parents — often abused and neglected themselves — learn how to better care for their children.
Through these various evidence-based services, trained health care and social work professionals provide guidance that helps parents assure the health, development and education of their babies from the prenatal months to age 5.
The results include reduced instances of child abuse and neglect, safe and stable homes, increased self-sufficiency, and improved school readiness for the children.
One program has demonstrated reduced maternal incarceration and lower juvenile crime rates when the children are older.
The Legislature is also considering a $90 million proposal to expand access to high-quality pre-kindergarten programs to an additional 7.400 eligible children.
Decades of research are clear that at-risk children who receive high quality pre-K are more likely to succeed in school and steer clear of juvenile delinquency and crime. Expanding access to pre-K must also be accompanied by continued progress on implementing early learning workforce development practices through the Keystone STARS quality improvement initiative.
These investments will help more children grow up to be good neighbors and good citizens — and ultimately reduce taxpayer expense. I urge our legislators to support these investments in next year’s state budget.
Richard A. Goldinger
District Attorney of Butler County
See the letter to the editor here.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Mission: Pre-K: More state support for early education is vital
By the Editorial Board June 4, 2016
Early-childhood education is so important that even retired admirals and generals are fighting for it.
Mission: Readiness, a children’s advocacy group made up of former military leaders, is part of a 2-year-old coalition demanding that the state invest $90 million more next fiscal year in pre-kindergarten and Head Start programs.
Why? A high-tech military requires highly skilled recruits, while the nation’s lagging performance in science and math portends a diminished global competitiveness, according to a study that Mission: Readiness and the business group ReadyNation released Thursday.
Pre-K is funded by the state, while Head Start receives federal and state funds. The programs for 3- and 4-year-olds provide instruction in math, literacy and other subjects, preparing tykes for the rigors of kindergarten and the challenges that life throws at them later on. Targeting kids at an age when their brains are especially fertile, pre-K and Head Start have been associated with improved performance in key academic subjects, higher school graduation and better college enrollment rates, all translating into higher levels of individual achievement and national gain.
Nearly 176,000 children statewide are eligible for the programs based on family income, but only about 30 percent are enrolled because of limited funding, according to coalition figures. In Allegheny County alone, classes are available only to 42 percent of the 12,577 children eligible. Mission: Readiness, the Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children and other coalition members want the state to increase funding by $90 million, to $256 million, for 2016-17. The increase would add 7,400 children to the pre-K and Head Start rolls and give additional hours to another 6,200 who received only partial instruction this year. (Gov. Tom Wolf has proposed an additional $60 million for 2016-2017.)
Read the full editorial here.
Bucks County Pre-K for PA Provider Jolly Toddlers Welcomes Rep. Farry at End of Year Event
Southampton, PA (June 3, 2016) – As priorities in the 2016-17 fiscal year budget negotiations are being identified in Harrisburg, Pre-K for PA provider Jolly Toddlers celebrated the end of the school year alongside PA State Representative Frank Farry today.
“The benefits of pre-k learning last a lifetime,” said Rep. Farry. “Investing in quality early learning programs, like Jolly Toddlers, will help us close the achievement gap, increase graduation rates, create productive citizens, and make Pennsylvania a place where all children have access to a quality education.”
Studies show that children who attend high-quality preschool enter kindergarten with better pre-reading skills, richer vocabularies, and stronger basic math skills than those who do not.
Pre-K for PA providers across the state support continued investment in pre-k, and are urging the Pennsylvania legislature and the governor to expand access to thousands of at-risk kids in the final 2016-17 budget. Specifically, they are calling for $90 million in additional funding part of the 2016-17 final state budget.
“A multi-year goal for growing access to high-quality pre-k for all of the income eligible children and begin looking at pre-k affordability issues regarding middle class families must be identified as an urgent priority at the negotiating table this month,” said Jodi Askins, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children (PennAEYC), a Pre-K for PA Principal Partner.
While the 2015-16 budget investment was a positive step, the fact remains that more than 120,000 income eligible 3- and 4-year-olds do not have access each year due to insufficient funding.
The 2015-16 state budget included $30 million in additional funding for PA Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental Assistance programs – expanding access to more than 6,000 at-risk children. Bucks County has almost 5,400 at-risk 3- and 4-year-olds and a staggering 82 percent of them – 4,446 children – lacked access to publicly funded, high-quality pre-k last year.
Across Pennsylvania, there are more than 175,000 3- and 4-year-olds who are at-risk because they are in lower income households—70 percent of these at-risk young learners – more than 120,000 children statewide – had no access to publicly funded pre-k last year.
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. Its vision is that every 3- and 4-year-old in Pennsylvania will have access to high-quality pre-k. For more information visit www.prekforpa.org.
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PennLive: Is preschool the answer to increasing the future supply of scientists and engineers?
By Jan Murphy June 2, 2016
Those making a case for more state funding for preschool programs often cite a myriad of reasons for this being a wise long-term investment.
It decreases spending on special education and increases graduation rates. It reduces the number of youths entering the criminal justice system. It boosts the number of 17- to 24-year-olds eligible to serve in the military.
Now another reason has come along. A new report links access to preschool to helping businesses and the military fill their future need for workers possessing science, technology, engineering, and math skills.
A Mission Readiness/Ready Nation report, titled “STEM and Early Childhood – When Skills Take Root,” being released on Thursday suggests that there is a growing body of research that indicates that interest in the science, technology, engineering and math fields takes root as early as preschool and kindergarten.
“Young children can learn more STEM content than we may realize,” the report states. “Good early learning curricula capitalize on the natural curiosity and exploration of young children and can build an understanding of math and science concepts.”
The report indicates that early exposure to math is linked to later abilities not only in math but in other subjects. At the same time, children with persistent problems in math at ages 6, 8 and 10 were 13 percentage points less likely to graduate from high school and 29 percentage points less likely to attend college.
The release of this report comes on the heels of last week’s letter to the Legislature from former Republican Gov. Mark Schweiker and Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and more than six dozen business, law enforcement, education, faith-based, and civic leaders that calls for providing the $90 million increase that Gov. Tom Wolf proposed for preschool in his 2016-17 budget.
An increase of that size would raise the state’s investment in preschool programs to more than a quarter of a billion dollars.
The letter signers see that as an incremental step toward growing access to high-quality pre-k for all income-eligible children and making it affordable to middle-class families as well.
“Such an investment will set us on a path to reduce educational, public welfare, and incarceration costs and have the most important added benefit of ensuring brighter futures for more of the commonwealth’s children,” the letter stated.
With an additional investment of the size the governor is seeking along with the $30 million increase provided this year, some 14,000 more income-eligible three- and four-year-olds could be served, according to Pre-K for Pa, a coalition of groups supportive of expanding access to preschool particularly for at-risk children.
Support for funding for early education stretches across the aisle in the GOP-controlled House and Senate but it seems to come down to a question of whether and how much revenue is there to pay for any increase it might receive.
House Republican spokesman Steve Miskin said any funding that can be raised beyond what is needed to cover the costs to carry the current state budget forward plus mandated cost increases would likely go toward education. However, it’s unclear at this point how any potential additional dollars would be distributed across the various education budget lines.
Read the full article here.
