Citizens Voice: LTE: Policy Makers Need to Expand Pre-K Services
February 25, 2016
It was disappointing to read that 80 percent of Luzerne County’s 3- and 4-year old children lack access to a high quality pre-K (Jan. 20). The article summarized the school readiness and cost savings benefits associated with further investments in pre-K, but it neglected to mention the impact on future national security.
The sad reality is that more than 70 percent of Pennsylvania’s young people cannot enlist in the Armed Forces. Inadequate education, criminal record and/or obesity are the principal disqualifiers.
For years, military leaders associated with the national security nonprofit organization Mission: Readiness have called for greater access to pre-K to help reverse this trend and ensure that our next generation has the skills, health and character needed to succeed both in military service and our civilian workforce.
As part of the 2016-17 state budget, our state policy makers have the opportunity to expand pre-K services to an additional 14,000 at-risk children. Investing in this next generation that one day will fill the ranks of our military and civilian workforce must be a priority.
Joseph F. Perugino
Kingston
Sunbury Daily Item: My Turn: Giving Can Only Help Pre-K So Much
February 11, 2016
The Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way has long made early learning and school readiness priority issues. We do this through United Way programs like Wee Read, which sends volunteers into our local WIC offices to read to children and distribute information; Every Baby Needs a Lap Top (your lap, not a computer), which teaches parents the importance of reading, singing and talking to their baby; Early Learning Investment Committee, a regional group of business leaders which advocates for investment in early learning; and pre-K scholarships.
Last year, we also invested $231,642 in funding to more than a dozen community partners, as well as in United Way initiated programs, for early childhood education initiatives.
We know — and research continues to confirm — that high-quality pre-k is among the best and most cost-effective initiatives for preparing children for success in school and beyond. It has been shown to significantly improve school readiness and increase the likelihood of high school graduation and college enrollment, which means better educated adults who enjoy stronger employment opportunities and earning potential.
Unfortunately, we also know high-quality pre-K is not accessible to many of this region’s young learners, in part because state investments in pre-K programs have not been aggressive enough. There are nearly 4,200 3-and 4-year-olds in Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties and only 16 percent of them are enrolled in publicly funded pre-K. This is well below the state average of 19 percent. Many of those missing out are those at greatest risk of academic failure.
United Ways and other community-based philanthropic organizations, as well as some strong visionary business leaders, have made strong efforts over the years to promote high-quality pre-K as a critical part of developing well-educated children, strong communities and an overall better commonwealth. But philanthropy alone cannot get the job done.
As with so many efforts to strengthen our communities, it takes a collaboration. In this case, we need the commonwealth to bolster its efforts to fund high-quality pre-K programs to reach those children who are missing out.
Especially troubling in Pennsylvania is the lack of access to high-quality pre-K among children at risk of academic failure. Across Pennsylvania, there are more than 175,000 3- and 4-year-olds who are at-risk because they are in lower-income households. Yet 70 percent of these at-risk young learners — more than 120,000 children statewide — had no access to publicly funded pre-k last year.
Northumberland County alone is home to about 1,700 at-risk 3- and 4-year-olds, and three-fourths of them lacked access to publicly funded, high-quality pre-K last year. The situation is worse in Snyder County, where 83 percent of at-risk young learners lack access, and Union County, where 79 percent lack access.
Read the full op-ed here.
PennLive: Wolf, lawmakers must fund pre-K education in the #PaBudget: Another View
February 9, 2016
By The Pre-K for Pa. Coalition
A curtain raiser to the always eagerly anticipated details in the Governor’s budget address revealed that Gov. Tom Wolf remains committed to make high-quality pre-k available to more kids.
What it didn’t reveal is how to muster the political will to generate necessary new revenue to balance the budget and invest in programs to improve the long-term viability of our state like high quality pre-k education.
Wolf’s proposed multi-year commitment capitalizes on the significant new $30 million investment in pre-k already adopted by the Legislature in the budget passed at the end of December making it possible for over 6,000 children to enroll in pre-k for the remainder of this school year.
Wolf and members of the legislature should also capitalize on the energy of a diverse collection of stakeholders by kicking off the next round of budget discussions with an ambitious investment that keeps us on track to serve all at-risk kids by 2019.
In PennLive’s coverage of the Governor’s pre-k proposal, state Capitol reporter Jan Murphy wrote that “when it comes to preschool, Republican and Democratic lawmakers stand in unison in their support of providing more funding and consider it a wise investment. It also has the support from children’s advocacy groups, district attorneys and military leaders.”
She’s right.
An increasingly broad call for public investment in pre-k from Pennsylvanians of all walks of life is being fueled by the research that demonstrates that 90 percent of brain development occurs before age five.
In the extremely polarized political atmosphere in America, Pennsylvania is poised to make history because uncommon alliances are backing measures to help every child start school ready to learn.
Across the commonwealth, decorated generals and admirals are publicly touting their pre-k support because students who attend high-quality pre-k will someday be entrusted and be more prepared to accept the call to military service. CEO’s are turning up the volume of their call for pre-k because it is an efficient means of helping our state build a more prepared workforce.
District attorneys are arguing for increased access to pre-k because doing so is proven to decrease the chances that a youngster ends up in the courthouse.
This impressive cross section of Pennsylvanians is advancing pre-k because of the evidence that it’s our best shot to significantly increase the share of children who succeed in school, to cut costs for government services, and to support our state’s future economic growth.
The Pre-K for PA coalition, with its 14,000 supporters, believes that the opportunity afforded to young children through pre-k is essential to Pennsylvania’s long-term viability and is actively working to ensure that state revenues are available to balance the state budget and to invest—at a minimum—the Governor’s proposed $90 million increase for this and next fiscal year.
A bold bipartisan push for something as important as access to pre-k has the potential to significantly boost public confidence in our political process.
It would be a welcome shift away from the divisive discourse that focuses solely on political, social or ideological labels.
It’s time to get together on new ways to support investments that help grow the commonwealth.
It’s time to get behind pre-k, which speaks to Pennsylvanians and unite the many proud constituencies of our state who know our future is dependent on all kids entering school ready to learn.
The Pre-K for Pa Coalition is: Jodi Askins, Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children; Joan Benso, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children; Cara Ciminillo, Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children; Donna Cooper, Public Citizen’s for Children and Youth; Bruce Clash, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids; Steve Doster, Mission Readiness – Military Leaders for Kids; Kevin Dow, United Way of Greater Philadelphia & Southern New Jersey; Blair Hyatt, Pennsylvania Head Start Association; Sharon Easterling, Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children, and Steve Wray, Economy League of Greater Philadelphia
See the Op-ed here.
Early Learning Advocates Urge Bi-partisan Support of 2016-17 Investment Proposal
HARRISBURG (Feb. 9, 2016)— The Pre-K for PA campaign, along with the Early Learning PA (ELPA) coalition, lauded Gov. Tom Wolf’s continued commitment to expanding access to pre-k in Pennsylvania after he announced a $120 million multi-year investment in his 2016-17 budget address today, which includes the new $30 million, six-month appropriation enacted last December.
The principal partners of the Pre-K for PA and Early Learning PA issued the following statement regarding this budget proposal:
“Given the dire state of the commonwealth’s finances, it’s especially important to note that Gov. Wolf remains committed to make high-quality child care, home visiting and pre-k available to more kids. It’s clear that he and many legislators understand that we must play the long game and invest in kids while addressing the short game by balancing the state budget.”
“Support for expanded access to pre-k and other early learning investments such as Child Care Works and evidence-based home visiting has become a bipartisan priority that has generated enormous energy among a diverse collection of stakeholders across the commonwealth. ELPA and Pre-K for PA urge the governor and legislature to kick off this next round of budget discussions by coming together behind a budget agreement that generates enough revenue to balance the budget and makes continued progress on substantial investments in child care, home visiting and pre-k that ensure our kids will enter school ready to learn. These public investments reap strong returns that strengthen our commonwealth.”
Governor Wolf’s budget proposal included:
- $120 million in additional funding over two years for high-quality pre-k, which includes the $30 million in new funding already enacted for the second half of the current school year. If realized, Pennsylvania’s investment will rise to $197.284 million in Pre-K Counts and $59.178 million in the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program in FY 2016-17.
- An additional $10 million investment in evidence-based home visiting programs that would support 1,900 higher risk, low-income children and their parents.
- Investing $12 million more in child care subsidy funding making it possible for up to 2,247 kids currently on state waiting lists to enroll in a child care program.
The groups expressed their disappointment that the governor’s early childhood education proposal did not include an effort to improve the rate structure for programs serving children in Child Care Works. The current rate structure fails to provide necessary support to deliver high-quality child care to our children.
“Pennsylvania’s early childhood education system is based on a commitment to improve the quality, access and availability of early learning for children at-risk of school failure. High-quality early childhood education is a vital component to closing the achievement gap, producing qualified workers and providing short- and long-term economic returns to Pennsylvania taxpayers. The commonwealth must increase its reimbursement rates to better reflect the true cost of quality child care service in order to achieve its goal of high-quality child care for all kids.”
Pre-K for PA was launched in 2014 with the vision that every 3- and 4-year-old in Pennsylvania will have access to high-quality pre-k and has 13,000 members. This statewide coalition’s leadership group includes: Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children; Economy League of Greater Philadelphia; Fight Crime: Invest in Kids; Mission: Readiness; Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children; Pennsylvania Head Start Association; Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children; Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children; Public Citizens for Children and Youth; and United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.www.prekforpa.org
Early Learning PA also was launched in 2014 with the vision that, by 2020, all Pennsylvania children will have access to high-quality early learning opportunities. Its founding members include: the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children; Fight Crime: Invest in Kids; Mission: Readiness; Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children; Pennsylvania Child Care Association; Pennsylvania Head Start Association; Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children; Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children; and Public Citizens for Children and Youth.
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