Penn Capital Star: OpEd: Veterans Day honors those who served. Now we need to look to the next generation of warriors.
November 11, 2019 by Thomas J. Wilson III, U.S. Navy Retired
“Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.”
The nature of war may have changed since Gen. George S. Patton wrote those famous words, but the principle remains the same. No matter what we invest in weapons and technology, the men and women wearing the uniforms of our nation deliver the resourcefulness and skill that keeps America safe.
On this Veterans’ Day, we honor those who serve, but it’s also a time to cast our vision ahead to those who might someday serve.
Unfortunately, here is where we see potential problems. Like employers throughout Pennsylvania and nationwide, the U.S. military strains to draw recruits from an increasingly depleted workforce.
Low unemployment has created a hiring crunch, complicated for the military by the fact that nearly three out of four young Pennsylvanians do not qualify for military service due to educational deficiencies, health or fitness issues, or a criminal record.
If we do not address this eligibility problem and expand the readiness of young people, will we have the sufficient pool of talented recruits needed to serve in our military in the future? Will private sector employers have a sufficient pool of talented applicants needed to fill their labor force?
The retired admirals and generals of Mission: Readiness recommend a solution – investing in our young people today to better ensure the readiness of workers and service members tomorrow.
The starting place is to ensure greater access to high-quality child care and early education programs like pre-k. Research is clear that brain development from birth to age 5 sets the foundation for children’s future success. During these years, more than 1 million new neural connections form every second. This early foundation sets the stage for children’s cognitive ability, health and behavior throughout life.
The next step is to ensure that all students have the opportunity for a quality K-12 education, regardless of zip code, where these foundational skills can mature. Students should have access to smaller classes where more individualized instruction is possible, access to diverse academic offerings including STEM and Career and Technical Education, and access to critical lab, computer and other equipment that is so pervasive in our modern workforce.
Unfortunately, our public investments in our young people have not kept pace with the need. Many Pennsylvania families struggle to find and afford high-quality child care options for their children and more than 95,000 eligible 3- and 4-year-olds don’t have access to publicly-funded pre-k programs like Pre-K Counts and Head Start.
Added, too many young Pennsylvanians attend public K-12 schools that lack adequate resources to ensure a quality education. In fact, Pennsylvania is home to the widest per-pupil spending gap in the nation between wealthy and poor school districts.
Furthermore, Pennsylvania ranks third overall in the statewide percent of children attending severely financially disadvantaged districts, behind only Illinois and New Hampshire. Our state’s over-reliance on local property taxes to fund public education has drastically limited poorer communities’ ability to adequately fund their schools.
Our economic and national security suffers when the workforce is strained, but we can reverse course. Increased public investment in high-quality early care and education programs as well as equitable and adequate K-12 funding for all Pennsylvania schools are “pipeline” investments in workforce (and military) readiness.
For Veterans’ Day 2019, let’s honor our veterans by committing to investments sure to instill in young people the qualities they will need both in the workforce and in service to this great nation if they so choose.
Rear Adm. Thomas J. Wilson III (U.S. Navy, Ret’d) is a member of the executive advisory council of Mission: Readiness – Military Leaders for Kids. He writes from Biglerville, Pa.
Read the op-ed here.
York Dispatch: OpEd: Quality pre-K prepares kids for school
August 1, 2019 by Ruthie Mohney, Northeastern School District
As a kindergarten teacher of nearly 17 years, I am often asked if I notice a difference between kids who have attended prekindergarten and those who have not. My answer is always the same: YES, YES, and YES!
As a new school year begins, I know I will see it again. Students coming into kindergarten from quality pre-K have an advantage over their peers who didn’t get the same opportunities.
That’s why I’m among the 96 percent of Pennsylvania kindergarten teachers who confirm what research has historically indicated — that children who attend high-quality, publicly funded pre-K enter kindergarten ready to succeed. We said so in a statewide survey from the Pre-K for PA campaign and the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Remarkably, 98 percent of my colleagues agree that high-quality, publicly funded pre-K is an important tool in preparing at-risk children for kindergarten.
Children who didn’t get high-quality pre-K are usually not as prepared for learning and less confident when they walk in on that first day of kindergarten. They are more hesitant to make friends, less confident to ask or answer a question, are less willing to share, and aren’t as ready to learn. I must spend more of my time teaching them academic fundamentals, such as literacy and numeracy, as well as classroom routines.
Research shows the varied benefits of high-quality, publicly funded pre-K:
- Physical well-being: Regular physical activity is essential to the developing brain’s ability to gather, process, and understand information.
- Social-emotional readiness: Teachers trained in developmentally appropriate practices guide young children in building peer relationships. When children get along and know how to control their impulses, every student in the classroom enjoys uninterrupted learning.
- Brain development: In the first few years of life, the brain builds 1 million new neural connections every minute. Skilled caregivers deliver positive interactions and experiences that hardwire these connections and create the foundation for a lifetime of learning.
- Early literacy development: No matter their family income, children who attend high-quality, publicly funded pre-K meet expected reading benchmarks by the time they finish third grade.
Fortunately, Pennsylvania lawmakers have long supported investments in early learning. Kindergarten teachers statewide, including me, thank them for their votes in June to approve $30 million more for pre-K in the 2019-20 state budget.
However, more needs to be done. In York County, 77 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds eligible for publicly funded pre-K don’t have access.
Children can’t wait. Every year of delay leaves another cohort of children behind their peers in academics and social skills. Continued support from our state policymakers in Harrisburg is our best chance to prepare every child for success in kindergarten and in life. I can’t wait for the day when people ask if every child in my classroom is thriving because they’ve all had high-quality pre-K, and I can say YES!
— Ruthie Mohney is a kindergarten teacher in Northeastern School District.
See the oped here.
Morning Call: Your View by retired Allentown police chief: ‘Spend more on potential, less on penitentiaries’
June 22, 2019 by Roger MacLean
If you happen to be looking for high school dropouts, check out Pennsylvania’s state prisons. Four of the 10 inmates sent there in 2018 did not have high school diplomas, according to Michele Hiester, the chief of research and evaluation for the state Department of Corrections.
And if you want to know about young people entangled in the criminal justice system, you’ll find that 13 out of every 100 arrests in Pennsylvania involves someone aged 17 to 24.
Those who commit property and violent crimes leave behind a trail of victims whose sense of personal security has been shattered forever.
Pennsylvania’s law enforcement professionals are tough on criminals because it is their job and their mission, but we know that safer communities start with diverting youth from lives of crime in the first place. We can fight crime by assuring that each Pennsylvania child earns a high school diploma and grows up to lead a productive, law-abiding life.
This path demands a continuum of public investment in childhood, building a foundation of success from birth through graduation. As Pennsylvania’s policymakers set priorities for next year’s state budget, they should seek to:
∗ Strengthen families through voluntary home visiting programs. In 2017 there were 4,836 substantiated reports of child abuse in Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. Children who are victims of abuse are more likely to become involved in crime later, most experts agree.
Home visiting is a proven and powerful prevention tool. Trained home visitors coach parents in healthy child development and how to manage the stress that often triggers abuse. Research shows that children are healthier and families are more self-sufficient.
∗ Grow access to early education. From birth to age 5, the brain builds 1 million neural connections a second. These connections are meant to encourage learning, impulse control and physical health, but first, they must be “hard-wired” in place. That is the role of high-quality pre-K and child care, especially when it helps at-risk children overcome the long-term consequences of hardship and trauma at home.
∗ Adequate and equitable K-12 education funding. High school dropouts are more likely to end up in prison. The seeds of dropping out are planted in early school years, when students fall so far behind academically that they never catch up. Many attend severely financially distressed schools, where classroom amenities are skimpy and career-exploration opportunities are scarce.
It’s time to spend more on potential, and less on penitentiaries. Our children will be better educated and our communities will be safer.
Roger J. MacLean is president of the Allentown City Council and a retired Allentown police chief.
View the article here.
PennLive: OpEd: Investing in early childhood education reduces crime and saves taxpayer dollars
June 1, 2019 by Dauphin County Fran Chardo, District Attorney
At-risk children face so many challenges throughout their lives. One of the greatest accomplishments they can attain that dramatically reduces their likelihood of engaging in criminal activity is graduation from high school.
We can help start them on the right path to a high school diploma and give their parents some of the skills that they may not have learned in their own childhood by providing these children with access to high-quality, publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs.
This access is not something that we here in Dauphin County or any single county can accomplish alone. Currently, we are only serving one-third of eligible high-risk children in the County. We can and must do more because this investment pays such tremendous dividends.
Quality pre-k programs return an average benefit to society of up to $27,000 for every child served. This is a measure of the benefits in both cutting crime and the cost of incarceration, reducing other costs such as special education and grade retention, and increasing participants’ future wages. Applying that research-based cost savings estimate to the 5,500 additional low-income Pennsylvanian children who would be served by the proposed $50 million funding increase for the Pre-K Counts and Head Start State Supplemental Assistance programs in 2019-2020 state budget, we could realize almost $150 million in societal benefits over their lifetimes.
Quite simply, increasing access to pre-k leads to more kids succeeding in school and saving taxpayer funds for years to come. When these preschoolers arrive in kindergarten and grade school classrooms, their teachers can focus more on teaching and less on classroom management because of fewer behavioral challenges.
Early intervention in the form of a high-quality pre-k program is a vital first step in providing a stable, nurturing environment for children living in adverse circumstances and developing strong parental support. If children lack early positive influences and see parents going to prison as “the way life is” rather than as a life-changing event, it can be easy for them to go down the same road.
I have spent my career serving our citizens through the criminal justice system. But I believe that we cannot arrest or prosecute our way out of the problems we face here in Dauphin County.
We need to use all resources at our disposal to give parents the tools they need to do the best job they can, while also investing in education to set our children up for a bright future to start a career, serve in the military or go college rather than facing the inside of a courtroom or a jail cell.
For these reasons, I believe that public investment in our youngest learners must be a continued budgetary priority. During this graduation season, let us turn our attention to the state budget and increase our investment in pre-k.
Read the oped here.
Times-Leader: Their View: State Must Invest in its Children
By: Joseph Perugino March 30, 2019
As the state legislature debates budget priorities, an area of concern on both sides of the aisle is the readiness of our future workforce. As a retired U.S. Army general, I too am concerned about this especially since the young people of today are the service members of the future.
Unfortunately, a look at our youth shows a shortfall in “citizen-readiness” – the idea that they can be contributing members of society in any arena. In particular, too few are prepared for military service. The U.S. Army felt the effects of this by missing its 2018 recruiting goal by 8.5 percent, or about 6,500 recruits.
In fact, a shocking 71 percent of young Pennsylvanians do not qualify for military service. That’s three young people in four whose potential is doused before they arrive at the recruiting office. One third are obese. One third lack a high school diploma or can’t pass military entrance exams. The final third have records of criminal activity or substance abuse.
As a society we must be investing to ensure an expanding workforce talent pool, not a diminishing one. It’s time to support a citizen-ready generation with a three-part continuum of investment that strengthens learning from birth through high school. As part of the final state budget, our leaders must expand investments to:
• Strengthen families through voluntary home visiting programs: Parenthood is a learned skill, especially for young parents who never had good role models. Research-based home visiting pairs families with trained professionals who teach the ABCs of child development, health and education. The result: Better academic outcomes and child health, less spending on social services, lower abuse rates and help for families breaking away from substance abuse.
• Grow access to early education: In the years from birth to age 5, children develop one million brain synapses per second. When “hard-wired” through high-quality early learning, these connections become the building blocks of future learning, physical health that averts obesity and emotional wellness. The U.S. military recognized this fact in 1989 with a challenging mission – to intensify investments in early childhood education. Throughout the world, we now offer high-quality child care and pre-k that prepare children for school and lifetime success. As a bonus, our commitment to quality in early learning helps parenting service members concentrate on their jobs protecting national security, confident that their children are learning and well cared for.
• Provide adequate and equitable K through 12 education funding: Pennsylvania’s academic gaps are among the worst in the nation. Minority children and those living in poverty trail far behind their white and better-off peers in grade-level achievement. Research shows that money and how we spend it makes a difference. It’s especially effective when targeting underfunded schools and delivering classroom improvements and direct services that help children overcome hardship, explore career opportunities and achieve academically.
Together, these three initiatives create an education pipeline that feeds into our military, colleges, job-training programs, and workplaces. When we complete this mission, our children will be prepared for successful adulthoods as contributing citizens and, if they choose, proud and capable members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Major General (ret.) Joseph F. Perugino, U.S. Army is former commander of the 28th Infantry Division, PA National Guard and executive advisory council, mission: Readiness – Military Leaders For Kids, member.
Read the op-ed here.
York Dispatch: Editorial: More Pre-k Funds Needed
October 12, 2018
Local advocates for high-quality early education recently celebrated the expansion of pre-K funding that allowed them to accommodate more children and expand programming.
An additional $25 million in funding was added to the state budget this year for early childhood education — $20 million going to PA Pre-K Counts programs and $5 million to Head Start Supplemental.
That’s a good start, but experts say much more is needed to reach all of Pennsylvania’s eligible children.
More than 200 for Pre-K Counts grants were awarded this fiscal year, and one recipient was the YWCA York, which was able to open a new pre-K classroom for 20 additional students.
That brings the YW’s program, which serves families with incomes up to 300 percent above the poverty level and provides free tuition and subsidies or scholarships for before- or after-school care, up to eight classes for children age 3 to 5.
As supporters rightly point out, high-quality early education is an investment that provides young children the solid start needed to succeed both academically and socially in school.
That increases the likelihood they’ll stay out of trouble, graduate from high school and enroll in college or join the military, leading to better career opportunities.
High-quality pre-K programs also boost local economies by eventually producing the skilled workers new businesses need.
“One of the things you read about Pre-K Counts is it prepares the children to enter the structured format of the school district,” YWCA York CEO Jean Treuthart said earlier this month at a gathering of local pre-K boosters.
“What I love seeing is not that we’re getting them ready for structure but that we’re just lighting the fire of curiosity and discovery,” she added.
Unfortunately, many more children who could benefit from a head start remain in the dark.
Read the full editorial here.
