Observer-Reporter: Editorial: Pennsylvania needs to increase pre-K funding
February 1, 2016
Around this time last year, there was a raft of depressing headlines about Pennsylvania falling behind the rest of the nation when it comes to pre-K education, and the detrimental effects on the commonwealth’s children.
Well, 12 months have marched by, and the headlines remain depressing and so familiar they make you feel like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day” – Pennsylvania is falling behind the rest of the nation when it comes to pre-K education.
The effects? No change there. Still detrimental.
In early January, the advocacy group Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children released a report, “The Case for Pre-K in PA,” which found only one in six children across the commonwealth are enrolled in a pre-K program. Such programs are available to only 26 percent of 4-year-olds in Pennsylvania, the report stated, compared with 94 percent in neighboring West Virginia and 42 percent in Maryland, another Keystone State neighbor.
More than likely, the Pennsylvania children who are enrolled in pre-K programs come from affluent families where the emphasis on learning starts early.
According to another study, this one released in early 2015 by the Education Week Research Center, the overwhelming majority of eligible Pennsylvania children who come from households earning more than $100,000 per year – two out of three, in fact – are enrolled in a quality pre-K program.
By contrast, only about 20 percent of children in families earning less than $20,000 annually are in a pre-K program.
Shortchanging pre-K now could cost us all down the road.
Each dollar invested in pre-K programs delivers a sevenfold return, advocates argue, pointing to the increased tax revenues that come with having a better-educated populace working in professions with greater earnings potential, as well as reduced spending on social services and special education.
Grant Oliphant, president of the Heinz Endowments, was recently quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as saying money spent on early childhood education are “some of the most effective dollars that we’ve invested.”
He continued, “We can see over a 20-year time frame that those investments in kids have had a profound impact on their ability to learn and their later success in school.
That translates eventually into their success in life, their success in the workforce, their success as citizens of the commonwealth.”
The stalled Pennsylvania budget has left funding for pre-K programs in a holding pattern.
Read the full editorial here.
Lancaster Online: Editorial: Hope for a Budget, with K-12 Funding
The LNP Editorial Board Nov 18, 2015
The “framework” budget agreement being negotiated between Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and Republican legislative leaders includes $350 million more for basic education and $50 million more for special education. The governor’s spokesman, Jeff Sheridan, also says the governor is committed to seeking $50 million more for preschool education. A 21 percent boost in the state sales tax to 7.25 percent statewide (8.25 percent in Allegheny County and 9.25 percent in Philadelphia) would provide property tax relief. Distribution of that relief and safeguards against future property tax increases are being hammered out.
The boosts in funding to public schools that have been agreed to by both sides are perhaps the first true rays of light in Pennsylvania’s now 141-day-old budget stalemate.
Education has, according to polls by Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Opinion Research, been the top or No. 2 concern of Pennsylvania voters since June 2014. It was the top issue of Wolf’s successful campaign. So, it’s good that all have agreed to a $400 million increase for K-12 education.
An added $50 million for pre-K programs — when done right save $7 for every dollar spent — should be settled quickly.
“It’s not that we oppose it,” House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin told LNP on Tuesday. “It’s about how much money we have.”
Given pre-K’s payback potential, Wolf is right to dig in on this issue.
A reasonable extraction tax on natural gas should do the trick. And that, unfortunately, is something Republicans have opposed.
While school officials are upset that it has even been mentioned, we will take the optimistic view that Republicans are not committed to requiring a back-end referendum every time a school district wants to raise property taxes.
On the downside, this awful proposal “is definitely being discussed” and “it has support” among Republicans who want some form of accountability on property taxes, Miskin said.
The idea is terrible — more on that later — but it addresses a legitimate concern.
“Once you cut property taxes, how do you make sure they don’t just go up again?” Miskin asked.
For a variety of reasons, a referendum on every future school property tax increase is not the right answer.
First, the school property tax is about the only form of local control school districts in Pennsylvania have.
Second, as David W. Patti, CEO and president of the Pennsylvania Business Council, put it, the proposal is “disingenuous” in the message it sends to school districts.
That message, Patti said, is: “We’re going to hold you accountable for results, we’re going to keep adding new mandates but we’re going to tie one hand behind your back” with a back-end referendum that keeps you from raising the funds needed to provide a good education.
We agree. The back-end referendum is neither fair nor productive.
Third, as Jay Himes, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials, said, a back-end referendum would set up a nearly impossible task for superintendents, at least in the short run.
Superintendents would have to focus more attention on building a case for public support for school budgets than on educating students.
Here in Pennsylvania, Himes noted, 175 school districts get more than half of their revenue from local property taxes. If such a school district were to face higher state-mandated pension costs, higher state-mandated charter school tuition bills and higher federally mandated special education costs, it would have to get that money from its 30 percent state funding.
Read the full editorial here.
York Daily Record: Op-ed: On Budget Impasse, Your Voice Matters
As an advocate for early childhood education, I am traveling the state hearing stories about how the state budget impasse is affecting children and families. Recently, I was in Huntingdon County at a Head Start classroom. The center was forced to secure two bridge loans to keep these state-funded classrooms open. This funding will last through Thanksgiving, then their doors will close to the 120 children and families they serve, and people will be laid off.
Stories like these are playing out in every county in Pennsylvania. Parents and teachers are frustrated, worried and ask me what can we do?
You can do something. Use your voice and let your legislators and the governor know what’s important to you.
Every legislator tells me they need to hear from their constituents about what matters to them. Republicans, Democrats, leadership, rank-and-file members; all need to be contacted. Ask your legislators to go to their leadership with your concerns.
Don’t worry if you can’t talk to your legislator directly. They will be updated by their staff on the issues their constituents are concerned about.
Through my travels I have heard your voice saying, “We need a budget, the right budget that moves the needle on serving more of the roughly 200,000 3 and 4-year-olds without access to high quality pre-k.” Call, email or visit your legislators’ offices. Tell them your story like you have told me. Tell them that all of Pennsylvania’s young children deserve access to high quality pre-k and that begins with $120 million more in funding in a final state budget.
Give them the evidence: 90 percent of a person’s brain develops by the age of 5. People learn their entire lives, but the connections in the brain that help you learn later are made during the first five years.
Whether you care about crime prevention, national security, the economy or K-12 funding, you should support investing in high-quality pre-k. Pennsylvania’s district attorneys, chiefs of police and sheriffs who are part of Fight Crime: Invest In Kids see investing in pre-k as a crime prevention strategy. Children who attend high-quality pre-k are dramatically less likely to be engaged in later crime, are better prepared for school and have positive opportunities later. Retired generals and admirals that are part of Mission: Readiness: they see pre-k as part of the long term solution to correct the shocking statistic that 70 percent of young people do not qualify for military service. Business organizations like The Economy League of Greater Philadelphia say investing in high-quality pre-k helps current and future workforce development. Children that attend are up to 44 percent more likely to graduate high school. And an immediate return of almost $2 for every dollar invested and a long term return of almost $17 for every dollar invested.
I have heard your voice, now let your legislators and Gov. Wolf know.
Your voice matters.
Stephanie Siegel-Mock is the director of public policy and outreach for the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children and the outreach coordinator for the Pennsylvania Head Start Association.
Read the full op-ed here.
Main Line Times: As I See it: Pre-K Counts program needs a no-nonsense budget now!
By Mary Jo Daley
For Main Line Media News
Summer is over and our children are back to school. The pictures in our social media feeds are all smiles. But this back-to-school season unfortunately is being affected by the peripheral impact of partisan politics in Harrisburg, which is now sending waves of uncertainty through state-funded pre-K classrooms across the state.
While teachers and students are getting back to the classrooms, many state-funded pre-K and Head Start classrooms are obtaining needed costly financing in order to open their doors to young learners; some have even been forced to close.
It’s difficult to deny that an early education can play an integral role in many aspects of child’s life. It is especially true for those children whose parents do not have the means to pay quality pre-K tuition. A child’s brain is developed 90 percent by the time they reach the age of 5. Exposing a young child to a classroom setting, social interactions, greater vocabulary and basic classroom skills prior to kindergarten has been proven to reduce the likelihood of repeated grades, special education and later incarceration, while also increasing graduation and college acceptance rates.
Many children start school behind their peers because the economic realities of early learning do not favor them. In the Colonial School District that I represent, for example, 193 students do not have access to high-quality publicly funded pre-K. These students do not get a do-over. Shouldn’t these children have the same opportunities afforded their friends and neighbors as they start school?
Gov. Wolf proposed a $120 million increase in early education funding in his initial budget. That amount, just a small percentage of the $29 billion budget, would provide high-quality early education opportunities for 14,000 additional 3- and 4-year-olds across Pennsylvania. It’s a good start, however nearly 200,000 of our 3- and 4-year-olds in PA currently do not have access to these educational opportunities. If we don’t start now, with this small portion of children, we’ll never reach the point where all of Pennsylvania’s young children are receiving this huge learning opportunity.
There’s no rewind button when it comes to the education of a growing child. Let’s get back to work before back to school is further ruined for more of our youngest learners.
State Rep. Mary Jo Daley is in her second term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives serving the 148th District.
The op-ed can be read here.
Erie Times: Op-Ed: Early learning aids economy: Betsy Bort, Mike Plazony, Nick Scott Jr.
The three of us, all members of Pennsylvania’s Early Learning Investment Commission, operate in very different industries. However, we all share a vested interest in making Erie County a great place to live, work, and raise a family.
That is why we are pleased that there is widespread bipartisan support for increased investment in high-quality early childhood education programs in this year’s state budget. Both Gov. Tom Wolf and House and Senate Republicans have proposed significant investments in these programs — $120 million and $30 million, respectively.
By age 5, 90 percent of the brain is developed. Decades of research show early learning programs are the key to helping children achieve school readiness, which in turn helps them meet critical educational benchmarks that lead to them graduating from high school, joining the workforce, and becoming an overall productive member of society. Recent data shows that quality early learning programs even help to improve health outcomes as adults.
While children who participate in these programs certainly have better lives because of them, providing adequate access to quality early learning also ensures a stronger, more vibrant economy for the rest of us — in the long and short term.
Quality early learning yields impressive long-term returns to society — up to $17 for every dollar invested — in the form of increased earnings and income taxes, reduced special education and welfare costs, and the really big savings, reduced crime.
As for immediate economic benefits, according to America’s Edge, every $1 invested in early care and education in Pennsylvania generates an additional $1.06, for a total of $2.06 in new spending in the state. In fact, investments in quality early learning generate more new spending for local businesses than investments in eight other major economic sectors, including transportation, construction, wholesale trade, retail trade and manufacturing.
However, Pennsylvania is currently ranked 30th in the country in terms of access to pre-kindergarten programs for 4-year-olds, well behind our neighboring states of West Virginia, Maryland, New York and New Jersey. And close to 65 percent of our young people will stay right here in Pennsylvania and become part of our future workforce. If we would like to remain economically competitive, Pennsylvania must invest accordingly in quality early learning today.
Read the full op-ed here.
Patriot News: As We See it: When They Talk Budget, Wolf and Lawmakers Can’t Forget Early Childhood Education
By The Members of Pre-K for Pa.
The sharp elbows of politics can sometimes be bruising, however unintentional the bump. As Pennsylvania’s budget impasse stretches into its third month, across the commonwealth the impact of political gridlock is beginning to be felt.
As PennLive’s Jan Murphy notes in “Cash flow woes: Schools feeling the pinch of the Pa. budget impasse” (PennLive, Aug. 31), small business owners and non-profits who operate high-quality Pre-K Counts and Head Start classrooms across the commonwealth are being forced to make a hard decision.
And that’s this: Either take out loans (and pay the interest) to open their doors to eager young learners or close state-funded classrooms
We urge Gov. Tom Wolf and the Legislature to work together to craft a budget that resolves this hardship.
But their negotiations regarding pre-kindergarten funding can’t only be about preserving state funding levels from last fiscal year for pre-k and getting those grants out the door.
Each year, more than 200,000 3- and 4-year-olds in Pennsylvania are missing out on this once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity.
These kids don’t get a “do-over” if they miss out on high-quality pre-k. For them, this negotiation must also be about increased funding.
That is why we, the 10 founding partners of Pre-K for PA, a statewide campaign to expand access to high-quality early learning, are cautiously optimistic that the eventual outcome of budget negotiations will favor our youngest learners.
Pre-K for PA’s vision is that every at-risk 3- and 4-year-old will gain access to high-quality pre-k by 2019.
In order to achieve that widely supported goal, the final 2015-16 budget must provide a substantial increase in state funding for pre-k.
It will take about $400 million in additional state investments over the next four years to increase access to children at greatest risk of academic failure.
The budget passed by the House and Senate, which included a $30 million increase, is a good first step to providing high-quality pre-k to an additional 3,500 children, but a $120 million increase this year would serve an additional 14,000 children and put us closer to our Pre-K for PA goal.
High-quality pre-k is a critical investment in the future of our children. Higher graduation rates, lower criminal activity, greater lifetime earnings and lower rates of special education are all connected by research to be outcomes of attending quality pre-k programs.
If we fall short of the much-needed $120 million additional investment this year, it will require larger increases in later years and leave more 3- and 4-year-olds missing out next school year. For these kids, delayed investments means lost opportunities.
Read the full op-ed here.
