Scranton Times-Tribune: Letter to the Editor: Pre-k Expansion
October 10, 2016
Editor: As we all know, a quality education in the very early years is the best gift we can give to our children to succeed in life.
The United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties has for many years been an advocate for high-quality early childhood education as an essential investment in our community’s future. Children who attend high-quality pre-K are more likely to start school ready to learn and perform on a much higher level than those without the benefit.
As the new school year progresses, we all have something to celebrate. More than 140 additional eligible 3- and 4-year-olds are enrolled in new Pre-K Counts and Head Start classrooms throughout Lackawanna and Wayne counties. I thank leaders like state Sen. John Blake, of Archbald, for his work to make expanded access to high quality early-childhood education a priority. I hope that his commitment in working to increase funding for early learning will inspire other legislators and Gov. Tom Wolf to do the same. Our future depends on it and it really does make a difference.
GARY DRAPEK
PRESIDENT AND CEO,
UNITED WAY OF LACKAWANNA & WAYNE COUNTIES,
SCRANTON
Read the Letter to the Editor here.
Erie Times: Iroquois Dedicates Expanded Early Learning Classroom
October 5, 2016
Iroquois Elementary School formally dedicated its expanded prekindergarten classroom Tuesday.
The district reinstated its prekindergarten class in partnership with the Early Connections program in February. The class served 13 students. The class this school year serves 30 students, Iroquois schools Superintendent Shane Murray said.
The expansion was funded by a $25 million increase in Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts funding an additional $5 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program in the 2016-17 state budget.
Across Erie County, the increased funding is paying for prekindergarten education for almost 200 additional students this school year, said Ron DiNicola, co-chairman of Pre-K for PA in northwestern Pennsylvania. Early Connections, Erie and Millcreek school districts, and the Downtown YMCA received increased prekindergarten funding.
But more funding is needed to reach more children, Murray said. Almost 2,500 income-eligible children in Erie County still do not have access to publicly funded, high-quality prekindergarten education, he said.
“There are a lot of things we have to do in education, and prekindergarten is not one of them. But it definitely is one of the things we should do. Data shows that the investment in prekindergarten education is returned seven times over,” Murray said.
Those returns include savings in costs for students repeating grades or requiring special education services, higher future wages for graduates and less cost for crime, said Erie County Sheriff John Loomis. Loomis and state legislators from Erie County attended Tuesday’s Iroquois prekindergarten dedication.
A study of Pennsylvania’s inmate population shows that more than half have not graduated from high school, Loomis said.
“This revealing statistic is more reason for the imperative that law enforcement leaders place on educational success, which is best achieved by children getting a strong early educational foundation,” Loomis said.
Read the story here.
WSEE/WJET: Legislatures Head Back to School
October 4, 2016
Last spring, Iroquois Elementary started its Pre-K program. Tuesday, legislatures that helped get funding for the program, had the chance to look inside.
About 30 students make up the two Pre-K classes at Iroquois Elementary. Legislatures gathered for a round table discussion about the new expansion part of Pre-K Counts.
“Pre-K Counts is a high quality, there are measures of standards for qualifications of teachers, curriculum, how it’s integrated with the kindergarten program. So, we’re investing in programs, that are shown by decades of research that meet these high quality benchmarks,” says Bruce Clash, state director of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids.
Part of that investment, $30 million for Pre-K, included in the 2016-2017 budget, by the legislatures.
“I’m incredibly fortunate, and very proud of our students, and proud of our district, for being willing to accept this grant and collaborative effort…It’s an opportunity for our students to get a head start on learning how to be a student and learning how to treat one another,” says Iroquois Elementary principal, Brian Bronson.
After the round table discussion, everyone gathered inside for the ribbon cutting of the Pre-K classroom.
Principal Bronson says major highlights of the Pre-K classroom is learning from play.
“There’s so much brain activity going on in play…That our students wouldn’t have that organized opportunity to be with one another,” says Brian.
Co-chair of Pre-K for PA NWPA, Ron DiNicola says the sooner we get kids in school the better.
“All the studies show the good science, the solid economics shows that children that have access to pre-k are more likely to perform better in school, reduce the cost of special education, graduate with, from high school, and go on to post-secondary education,” he says.
Read the full article here.
WJET: New funding allows more Erie County children to participate in pre-K
October 4, 2016
ERIE, Pa. – The pre-K classroom at Iroquois Elementary School is a little bigger thanks to a $25 million investment in programs across the Commonwealth.
New state funding allows 200 additional children in Erie County to participate in pre-K with 30 of those children at Iroquois.
On Tuesday, the school celebrated the growing classroom.
Studies show that not only is the program important for education, but it helps to reduce disruptive or antisocial behaviors in children that could lead to criminal behavior.
In Erie County, 2,400 students living below the poverty line to not have access to pre-K.
Watch coverage here.
Reading Eagle: Berks County Sees a Boost for Pre-k Education
October 1, 2016 by David Mekeel
Seventeen sets of tiny hands grasped a long, blue ribbon, a bow at its center, and stretched it across their classroom.
The 3- and 4-year-olds were flanked by a group of grown-ups, smiling as pictures were snapped. At the count of three, four of the small children who had been given red and black safety scissors snipped away, making the opening of their new pre-kindergarten classroom official.
The Berks County Intermediate Unit on Friday celebrated the addition of seven new pre-k classrooms that have opened up across Berks County this school year with a special event at the BCIU Education Center along Centre Avenue. The new classrooms are the result of a $30 million increase in this year’s state budget for early childhood education.
Before the ribbon-cutting – and before state Sen. Judy Schwank sat down to read the kids a couple of stories – local and state officials gathered for a roundtable discussion about pre-k funding.
The discussion was led by Bruce Clash, state director of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania. The group, which is made up of 160 district attorneys, police chiefs and sheriffs, pushes for increased funding for early childhood education.
The goal of the group, according to Clash, is to make sure every child in the state has access to high-quality pre-kindergarten.”We’re here today to celebrate that we’re taking a chip out of that need,” he said.
Clash said the $30 million increase in state funding this year opened up pre-k opportunities for 4,000 kids across the commonwealth. But, he added, the need hasn’t gone away.
In Berks County alone, more than 4,800 children living 300 percent below the poverty line still don’t have access to pre-k. That number represents 76 percent of the children in the county currently living at that poverty level.
The fight to change the situation is a long, often frustrating one, Clash said.
“We all have flat spots on the side of our heads from beating them against the wall,” he told the group gathered around the table.
The funding increase, however, is at least a start.”
There are real little ones here,” Cheri Woyurka, BCIU director of early childhood and student services, said with a smile. “We have lots of little bodies in this building.
“Woyurka said the new state money allowed the BCIU to more than double its number of Pre-K Counts classrooms, going from six to 13. This year they’re serving 283 children at sites throughout the county.
And that’s a big deal.
As Al Ottinger, president of QIC Inc., a precision castings manufacturer in Blandon, explained, early childhood education opportunities lead to a better prepared workforce.
Ottinger attended Friday’s event as a representative of the business community. And, he said, that community is willing and eager to help get kids off on the right foot.
“The most compelling number is that you get a $17 return for every dollar you invest in pre-k,” he said.
Ottinger said today’s workforce is facing a shortage of skilled workers, especially in technology fields. To change that, he said, will require bolstering education.
Early childhood education also has an impact on the criminal justice system, Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams said.”This is sort of a crime prevention tool for us,” he said.
“Just exposing kids to a good start goes a long way to investing in their future.
“Adams said many of the criminals he comes across share a common shortcoming – namely, education.
Clash added that about half of all inmates in state prisons in Pennsylvania don’t have a high school diploma. Early education could help keep many students from following that path.
“All those things that lead to productive citizenship begin right here,” Clash said.
Schwank agreed, saying it’s hearing from people like Adams and Ottinger – along with visiting classrooms – that help make it so easy for her to support early education funding.
Read the full article here.
Delaware County Daily Times: Pre-K programs create better citizens, advocates say
September 29, 2016 by Kevin Tustin
Clifton Heights >> The need for pre-kindergarten programs in relation to the criminal justice system was the focus of a roundtable discussion Thursday morning.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan and state Sen. Tom McGarrigle, R-26 of Springfield, met with leaders of Today’s Child Learning Center in Clifton Heights and local and state pre-K advocates to reinforce why access to these high-quality, public early education programs in the state are needed to create better citizens.
As a way of being proactive in fighting recidivism, Whelan said district attorneys are looking at the defectiveness of an incarcerated person’s educational background to deter young people from getting involved in the penal system.
“If given the opportunity that we can address these needs at the pre-K level, the expectation would be that they would not be at the point in life that they’re at when they are in the state system,” said Whelan. “If we can start from the back end looking from the front end and being able to reduce people getting involved in crime, education is a big part of that.”
The state currently spends about $2.6 billion on its corrections system for 50,000 inmates, many of whom Whelan noted have no formal education, if a high school diploma.
“It’s critically important. It’s labor intensive, it is cost intensive, but the payout over the long-term I think more than amply makes up for what it is we’re trying to fund now,” said President and CEO of the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey Jim Cawley.
Compared to the $50,000 the state spends per incarcerated person, pre-K programs are reported to return a profit of nearly $30,000 to the community for every child served by way of saving on student retention costs, special education costs and, ultimately, incarceration costs.
Funding has increased for pre-K programs in the state under Gov. Tom Wolf, jumping $120 million in two years for Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental.
The boost in money has allowed Today’s Child to add 40 students this year alone to their highest-rated program in four locations, many of whom are in the Colwyn center.
Erinn Rinn, community relations coordinator for Today’s Child, gave feedback on the benefits that the Pre-K Counts program has been afforded to students.
“We talk with the kindergarten teachers and those teachers tell us themselves that the children who come from our programs are ready and more ready for the children who are not in this program and they succeed later on, K-through-12,” said Rinn.
Teachers at Today’s Child have degrees in early childhood education.
The state’s guidelines and mandates for selecting students for prioritizing applicants includes income levels, single-parent households, English as a second learning and even health.
Read the full article here.
