HARRISBURG, PA (June 25, 2021) – The principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five, believes the commonwealth’s economic recovery hinges on helping working families by prioritizing greater state investments in high-quality pre-k, child care and evidence-based home visiting. ELPA operates four issue-based advocacy campaigns: Pre-K for PA, Start Strong PA, Childhood Begins at Home and Thriving PA. Reaction statements from three of these campaigns regarding the FY 2021-22 state budget follow:
PRE-K
“Pre-K for PA applauds the $25 million in new state funding for Pre-K Counts and $5 million for Head Start Supplemental Assistance as part of the 2021-22 PA State Budget. This funding continues the commonwealth’s tradition of expanding access to high-quality pre-k – providing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to more than 3,200 additional young learners.
“Research shows that high-quality pre-k benefits children’s cognitive, social and emotional development. A new study by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill confirmed that the commonwealth’s investment in pre-k pays dividends for the children fortunate enough to access pre-k through the Pre-K Counts program. In language and math skills, the study showed that these kids outperformed their kindergarten peers who did not enjoy access—an advantage that equated to four to five months of learning gains. Even with this budget increase, more than 100,000 eligible three- and four-year-olds still lack access to high-quality pre-k.”
CHILD CARE
“The General Assembly and the Wolf Administration unfortunately missed the opportunity to prioritize families who are struggling to return to work. Ignoring recommendations developed with input from over 1,000 child care providers and parents, Pennsylvania’s elected leadership has fallen significantly short on ensuring American Rescue Plan child care funds are used to help families find and afford high-quality child care and to stabilize the industry.
“Given that 70% of Pennsylvania children under the age of five had all adults in their household in the labor force prior to the pandemic, high-quality child care is an essential workforce support. That workforce must be able to return to work for Pennsylvania to recover from the pandemic’s economic devastation.
“We now call on the Wolf Administration to prioritize and implement our recommendations for Pennsylvania’s $1.2 billion in American Rescue Plan child care funding. With nearly 700 child care programs permanently closed and over 350 temporarily closed, families are struggling to find child care. Those child care providers that have managed to stay open are still incurring additional pandemic-related costs while operating significantly under capacity and are struggling to attract and retain teachers.
“Not only is there less child care capacity in the system, only 42% of certified child care capacity currently meets high-quality standards. And only 39% of infants and toddlers that receive subsidized care attend programs that have met high-quality standards. High-quality care and education mean safer, healthier children and are critical to maximizing the period of a child’s most rapid brain growth.
“Start Strong PA’s recommendations for American Rescue Plan child care funding will stabilize, strengthen and ultimately secure the child care industry. This industry is critical to the success of our economic recovery.”
EVIDENCE-BASED HOME VISITING
“On behalf of the pregnant women, children, and families who would benefit the most from evidence-based home visiting – especially those disproportionately impacted by the pandemic – Childhood Begins at Home is dismayed that there is no increase in the state budget for these voluntary services backed by decades of research.
“Without funding increases to reach more Pennsylvania families, the unmet need remains at a staggering 95%. The Community-Based Family Centers line will be level-funded, and the Nurse-Family Partnership line will receive a minimal increase to restore the line to its prior level due to a slight reduction resulting from the state using enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) funding last year.
“Throughout budget negotiations, policymakers emphasized the infusion of federal stimulus dollars to inform state spending decisions. Of the total amount of one-time state funds Pennsylvania received from the American Rescue Plan ($7.3 billion), home visiting gets less than .02% (or a paltry $1.3 million) through the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program. This funding has yet to be distributed to programs that received no aid during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is limited in its use and timeframe to spend these dollars.
“Only pennies on the dollar for evidence-based home visiting are coming in federally. It adds insult to injury that policymakers in the legislative and administrative branches did not step up and recognize constituents would benefit from the same services that have been a lifeline for so many during the last 15 months.
“While states’ use of the ARP funds is flexible, the federal stimulus funding for evidence-based home visiting would not even reach one family in each of Pennsylvania’s 253 legislative districts.
“From birth to age five, brain growth is rapid, learning is happening, and our coalition of advocates is committed to ensuring that families can access it in high-quality, developmentally appropriate settings. In Pennsylvania, funding has not been prioritized to ensure the resources are there to offer these irreplaceable opportunities, creating deep inequity among children and their families at a very early age. We, and our tens of thousands of supporters, will continue to urge lawmakers to invest in early learning boldly – it is an urgent necessity.”
First Lady Frances Wolf Celebrates Early Childhood Education During Virtual Visit with Pre-K Classrooms
First Lady Frances Wolf joined the Pre-K for PA campaign in praising the perseverance of educators and students during a virtual visit with pre-k classrooms across the commonwealth.
Mrs. Wolf spoke with pre-k teachers, administrators, and advocates about the benefits of high-quality early-learning programs, how teachers adapted their teaching during the pandemic, how the families of pre-k students are managing, and what education advocates hope to see following the pandemic.
“Early childhood educators have worked tirelessly to support our youngest learners amidst the very challenging circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Tom and I express our deepest gratitude for their dedication to the well-being of our children, their families, and Pennsylvania as a whole,” said First Lady Wolf. “For this, we owe it to them to ensure they have the resources they need to help mold our children into the leaders of tomorrow.”
From the beginning, the Wolf Administration has prioritized increasing Pennsylvania’s educational opportunities. In the past six years, Governor Wolf has secured an additional $1.4 billion in funding for pre-k through college.
Read the full article here.
Study Shows that Pennsylvania Children Who Attend Pre-K Counts Programs Outperform Kids Who Don’t Have Access
Pre-k helps improve language and math skills at a rate equivalent to approximately 4-5 more months of learning, compared to peers
HARRISBURG, PA (March 16, 2021) – A report issued today by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill) shows Pennsylvania’s investment in publicly funded pre-k is making an impact on the children who participate in high-quality pre-k programs. The report, which evaluated the impact of Pennsylvania’s publicly funded Pre-K Counts program by comparing kindergarten students who had attended Pre-K Counts programs to their peers who did not attend Pre-K Counts programs, is the first independent statewide evaluation of Pennsylvania student outcomes. Pennsylvania is one of 32 states funding pre-k for 3- and 4-year-olds and serves about 25,000 children with Pre-K Counts across the Commonwealth each year.
The principal partners of the Pre-K for PA campaign issued the following statement on the report:
“Pre-k in PA is working! The bottom line of this report is that children fortunate enough to access pre-k through Pennsylvania’s Pre-K Counts program are succeeding in kindergarten. In language and math skills, the study showed that these kids outperformed their kindergarten peers who did not enjoy access to this once-in-a-lifetime early learning experience – an advantage that equated to four to five months of learning gains, which is a substantial difference in development at that age. These outcomes are significant, because language and math skills have been shown to be the school readiness skills that most strongly predict later academic achievement.
“The report confirms what we knew all along – the Commonwealth’s investment in pre-k pays dividends. The report also shows that strengthening the pre-k experience would further strengthen outcomes, providing an even stronger return on investment. Researchers noted that Pre-K Counts has higher standards than most other state-funded pre-k programs across the country – a point of pride for Pennsylvania. An even greater investment would help the Commonwealth ensure that more students have access to publicly funded pre-k and that the programs have the resources required to ensure students achieve even greater gains.
“Children entering kindergarten ready to succeed has been the touchstone of the Pre-K for PA campaign since its launch in 2014. Pre-K for PA will continue to advocate on behalf of Pennsylvania’s youngest learners alongside the Republican and Democrat lawmakers who have consistently supported the expansion since we began this important work together.”
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Pottstown Mercury: Guest Column: Pre-K Counts Continues to Make a Difference
February 16, 2021 by Jeff Sparagana
After 23 years of serving the School District of Pottstown and the Pottstown community at-large, I could not be more proud of our work in creating and sustaining a community based school readiness initiative.
In 2006, the Pottstown School District invited community child care providers, community agencies, private businesses and area funders to begin discussions related to improving the school readiness of children entering kindergarten. As result of this unique collaboration of the school district and community partner’s, Pottstown Early Action for Kindergarten Readiness (PEAK) was created for the purpose of supporting young children to increase school readiness and partner with families to facilitate a positive transition to kindergarten.
In 2007, we received one of the initial PA Pre-K Count’s grants which enabled the PEAK partnership to implement high quality, full day Pre-K Counts classrooms in our community partner sites. Today, 15 years later the PEAK Partnership is thriving and serving 300 children with 8 full day Pre-K Counts classrooms in Pottstown School District and 7 full day Pre-K Counts classrooms in our community partner sites. In Pottstown, Pre-K Counts classrooms continue to make a significant difference in our children’s lives.
A recent report by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows the positive impacts on children who attended one of Pennsylvania’s Pre-K Counts high-quality programs. In this report, the bottom line is that children who are fortunate enough to access pre-k through Pennsylvania’s Pre-K Counts program are succeeding in kindergarten classes.
In language and math skills, the study showed that these kids outperformed the other students who did not have access to this once-in-a-lifetime early learning experience — an advantage that equated to four to five months of learning gains, which is a substantial difference in development at that age. These outcomes are significant, because language and math skills have been shown to be the school readiness skills that most strongly predict later academic achievement.
The investment that Pennsylvania has already made into publicly funded pre-k is making an impact on the children who participate in high-quality pre-k programs. I personally got to see this happen in our PEAK classrooms over the years as superintendent. This investment in young children is one of the most important the commonwealth can make.
Jeff Sparagana, Ed.D, is a board member of Public Citizens for Children & Youth, a Pennsylvania-based advocacy group that works to improve the lives of children by developing initiatives and advocating for quality health care, child care, public education and family stability.
Read the full Guest Column here.
Governor’s Budget Proposal Advances Portions of PA’s Early Learning System
Proposal includes increase in pre-k, utilizes federal funds to boost child care rates and level funds home visiting programs
HARRISBURG, PA (February 4, 2021) – The principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five, commend Governor Wolf’s 2021-22 budget proposal’s emphasis on Pennsylvania families. As a coalition that focuses on greater access to the Commonwealth’s continuum of high-quality early care and education services, we applaud the governor’s continued commitment to growing state funding for pre-k, however additional effort is needed to boost the availability of quality child care and home visiting services that are essential to Pennsylvania’s working families and our economic recovery.
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 the governor’s proposed 2021-22 budget follow.
PRE-K
“During a difficult budget year, Governor Wolf deserves credit for his continued support of expanded access to publicly funded, high-quality pre-k in PA. The $30 million funding increase for these programs in the proposed 2021-22 PA budget ($25 million for Pre-K Counts; $5 million for Head Start State Supplemental Assistance Program) continues the tradition of expanding this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to thousands more 3- and 4-year-olds.
“A new study by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill confirmed that the Commonwealth’s investment in pre-k is paying dividends for the children fortunate enough to access pre-k through Pennsylvania’s Pre-K Counts program. In language and math skills, the study showed that these kids outperformed their kindergarten peers who did not enjoy access – an advantage that equated to four to five months of learning gains, which is a substantial difference in development at that age and a meaningful advantage during the COVID-19 era.
“In Pennsylvania, almost two-thirds of children enrolled in Pre-K Counts attend these classes at a high-quality Keystone STARS 3 or 4 child care provider. As such, the overall stability of our child care system is of paramount concern to serving more pre-k eligible children.”
CHILD CARE
“Start Strong PA commends the Wolf Administration for utilizing existing federal child care funds to increase subsidy base rates. For a sector struggling to survive in the wake of COVID-19 and the economic shutdown, increasing base rates to move towards paying programs the actual cost of the care they provide is important.
“Pennsylvania’s working families struggled to find and afford high-quality child care prior to the pandemic. Today’s economic downturn has only exacerbated this problem. Start Strong PA urges Governor Wolf and the Pennsylvania General Assembly to address these child care needs by quickly utilizing federal funds to serve 3,000 additional eligible infants and toddlers in high-quality slots through contracts, which provides greater financial stability to providers. This proposal would implement the Governor’s Workforce Command Center recommendation to increase access to high-quality child care. Serving more eligible infants and toddlers, coupled with a smart investment strategy of new, incoming federal child care stimulus funds to first address under-enrollment in programs due to the pandemic, would not only be a win for children and families but will address a critical workforce support essential in our economic recovery.”
EVIDENCE-BASED HOME VISITING
“The Childhood Begins at Home campaign is disappointed that the governor’s 2021-22 state budget proposal does not include an increase for voluntary, evidence-based home visiting programs in Pennsylvania for the second year in a row. Given the current environment, the decision to not increase investments so more families are able to participate is perplexing, because families need home visiting now more than ever.
“Beginning in the 2017-18 budget through 2019-20, the campaign saw momentum and support building in the form of steady funding increases to connect more pregnant women, children and families to voluntary, evidence-based home visiting services, and Pennsylvania was becoming a national leader for delivering services that improve maternal health, child well-being and family self-sufficiency.
“Even before the pandemic, Pennsylvania parents struggling to make ends meet and juggling the challenges of raising their young children benefited from voluntary visits that provide parent education and support. Under the crush of the current public health crisis, isolation, stress and unemployment have made home visiting more essential than ever. Not including funds to reach more families with young children makes little sense when these programs uniquely meet families’ needs in the early care and education continuum.
“Only 5% of the pregnant women, children and families who would benefit the most from evidence-based home visiting programs are served currently. The campaign sought a combined increase of $12.4 million in the Community-Based Family Centers and Nurse-Family Partnership line items in the 2021-22 budget.
“The governor’s remarks spoke to the challenges faced by young families just starting out in the Commonwealth – their challenges and dreams for their children – and how we can remove barriers to provide for a brighter future. We hope to work collaboratively with the administration and legislature to expand evidence-based home visiting services to match that commitment with the resources to make it a reality.”
Governor Wolf’s state budget proposal included:
- $25 million in additional funding for the state’s Pre-K Counts program.
- $5 million in additional funding for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program. Together, this $30 million expansion would serve approximately 3,270 additional young children. Currently more than 106,000 eligible three- and four-year-olds do not have access to high-quality publicly funded pre-k programs.
- $87 million in existing federal child care funds to increase child care base rates.
- Level funding for home visiting.
Pre-K for PA launched in 2014 with the vision that every 3- and 4-year-old in Pennsylvania will have access to high-quality pre-k. Learn more at www.prekforpa.org.
Start Strong PA launched in 2019 to support healthy child development, working families, and the economy by increasing access to and affordability of high-quality child care programs for young children. Learn more at www.startstrongpa.org.
Childhood Begins At Home is a statewide campaign to help policymakers and the public understand the value of evidence-based home visiting and support public investments in the programs. Learn more at www.childhoodbeginsathome.org.
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Pa.’s free pre-K program provides a meaningful math and language boost, says new study
By: Miles Bryan | December 18, 2020
A new evaluation of Pennsylvania’s state-funded pre-K program finds it consistently gives kids a meaningful boost in some core skills — but has seemingly no effect on others.
Launched in 2007, the state-backed Pre-K Counts initiative provides free pre-Kindergarten instruction to Pennsylvania’s low-income families.
To evaluate the program, researchers with the University of North Carolina tracked the progress of nearly 600 kindergarteners from across the state during the 2018-19 school year. About two-thirds of those kids had spent at least a year in a Pre-K Counts program, while the rest had received no formal early childhood education.
A key finding is that the kids who had been in pre-K had a serious head start on vocabulary and math skills.
Read the full article here.
