CBS 3: Local DA’s: “Pay Now for Pre-K or Pay Later for Crime”
By Jim Melwert
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (CBS) — There was a show of support Wednesday morning for the expansion of “Pre-K” and early childhood education, as advocates were joined by the district attorneys from Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester Countries at the Double Tree Hotel in King of Prussia.
Among the speakers was Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan. He says studies show money can be spent on children now when they’re young, or…
“Or they’ll have to deal with me as a prosecutor later,” Hogan says, “when they’ve taken the wrong steps in life, when they haven’t had the right support and they’re in the criminal justice system, and that’s too late.”
Hogan compares quality pre-K education to immunizations.
“When we’re out with police, you will run into three or four-year-old kids that are in a family, and the police will say to you, based on their background, they’re going to end up in the criminal justice system someday.”
Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams says study after study shows one of the best ways to prevent crime is quality early childhood education.
“People don’t expect DAs talking about early childhood education, like ‘What are you a social worker?’ I am the social worker of last resort,” he says, “I am the prosecutor.”
Read the entire article here.
Philly.com Op-Ed: Expanding Preschool will Help Children and the City
By Elliot Weinbaum
and Sharon Easterling
In Philadelphia, many are working hard to improve our schools. There is significant work to be done if we are to give our young people the best possible opportunity to become active and successful citizens, and we need to begin with our youngest learners.
Consider a few important facts. According to the Reinvestment Fund’s childcaremap.org, only 15 percent of about 100,000 child-care seats in Philadelphia are rated as being high-quality, with three or four stars, according to the state’s Keystone Stars rating system. Of the remainder, more than half do not participate in the state’s certification or rating systems, and more than 30 percent are at the lower quality ratings.
If we look at individual neighborhoods, the landscape can be even bleaker. Childcaremap.org shows that several neighborhoods, some serving more than 1,000 children under the age of 5, have no child-care centers with a rating of three or four stars. In a city with the highest poverty rates among large American cities, less than one-third of our 3- and 4-year-olds have access to publicly funded, high-quality pre-K.
Why should we care? Because we know that early-education opportunities help people live better lives. Studies such as those by the Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman indicate that children who miss out on early education often struggle to catch up to the academic, professional, and personal success experienced by their peers. The work of Harvard education professor David Deming has shown that children in an early-childhood program are less likely to demonstrate learning disabilities later in life, more likely to graduate from high school, and less likely to be in poor health as adults.
What does this mean for Philadelphia? There are about 12,000 kindergartners in our city. The overall rate of special education in Philadelphia would suggest that almost 14 percent of these students will need special-education services. An evaluation by Pre-K Counts, a statewide program, suggests that if every child had access to high-quality early education, the special-education rate would be reduced to less than 5 percent.
Read the entire op-ed here.
NBC10: Local DA’s: Pay for Pre-K or Pay for Crime Later
A conference advocating for early education and pre-k programs that proponents say could boost graduation rates and reduce the number of people who wind up incarcerated if every three and four-year-old had access.
PRE-K FOR PA’S PUSH FOR EXPANDED EARLY EDUCATION MAKES HEADWAY
From the election trail to the capital, Pre-K for PA has shown how an issue campaign evolves
Pre-K for PA is a non-partisan issue campaign that aims to expand access to pre-Kindergarten to all 3 to 4-year-olds in the state by 2018. Now in its second year, the campaign has reached what could be its first major legislative victory: Governor Tom Wolf has proposed $120 million in additional funds to early education, more than doubling the state’s investment.
“The proposed budget puts $100 million into Pre-K Counts and $20 million into Head Start,” said Kate Philips, statewide coordinator for Pre-K for PA.
Pre-K Counts, which is Pennsylvania’s only state program that funds pre-K, was created in 2008 as a part of a comprehensive education bill. In past years, funding for the program has fallen just under $100 million.
Head Start is a federal program created in the 1960s that funds pre-K and which states have the option to supplement with their own funds. In fiscal year 2014, under then-Governor Tom Corbett, the state paid for an additional 5,643 slots in the Head Start program. That would jump to 8,000 slots with the increase.
Overall the budget would add roughly 14,000 seats to high-quality pre-K classrooms, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. This breaks down to roughly $8,000 a seat per year, Philips explained.
The budget proposal is a great first step, Philips said, given that 70 percent of 3 to 4-year-olds in Pennsylvania currently do not have access to pre-K. Not investing in this age group’s education has a severe economic and social ripple effect, according to a growing body of research. It leads to a greater demand on taxpayers later on when individuals who are not properly educated require other social services to get by.
From the campaign trail to the state house
But while the benefits of increased spending on early education are clear to Pre-K for PA and its supporters, keeping the issue in the public eye has required the kind of committed outreach and promotion usually reserved for candidates running in an election.
The campaign’s volunteers and regional coordinators worked through the last gubernatorial election to keep the issue of expanded pre-K in front of both voters and candidates. This involved having a presence at campaign events, distributing materials like pamphlets and lawn signs, and continually communicating their goals to candidates and the press.
“We distributed almost 2,000 lawn signs so that people had a way to show their support for the issue during a season when people expect to see lawn signs,” said Anne Gemmell, field director for Pre-K for PA and an employee of Public Citizens for Children + Youth. “It was a little unusual in the sense that it was for an issue and a cause, as opposed to a candidate.”
However unusual, Gemmell contends that jumping into the election season fray is key to getting people to care about an issue.
“For advocates, no matter what issue they’re championing, an election year is always a good year to do it because people who understand or are mildly interested in policy decisions are paying attention and the candidates are paying attention,” Gemmell said. “It is the time that we as a society have conversations about what the big vision is going forward.”
Elections are also a time when candidates latch onto ideas and make them a part of their platform. A number of candidates, Governor Wolf included, said they supported expanding early education. But Pre-K for PA, a non-partisan organization, did not endorse any of them.
“We are not an endorsing entity. We are just an effort that in some ways mimics endorsing organizations in the ways that we engaged in the public dialogue,” like putting out lawn signs or campaign buttons, she said. “We sort of thought of the issue as our candidate.”
To read the full article visit Generocity.org.
ReadyNation Report Outlines Business Case for PA to Invest More in Early Childhood Education
HARRISBURG (April 15, 2015) – A ReadyNation report examining the benefits of quality early learning on the economy was released today as business leaders from across Pennsylvania convened for the annual Early Learning Investment Commission’s (ELIC) Economic Summit on Early Childhood Investment.
The report, Business Case in Pennsylvania for Early Childhood Investments, outlines the business case for investing in pre-k. Pennsylvania businesses are in need of job-ready, team-capable and well-prepared employees, and high-quality early learning programs help build the foundation for these attributes.
“As business leaders, we know that we get better employees in the long-term when we prioritize high-quality early childhood education,” said Nick Scott Jr., a Pennsylvania business owner (Scott Enterprises, Erie) who serves on the Pre-K for PA Executive Leadership Council. “An investment in our youngest learners is an investment in our state’s economy, and right now we are falling behind.”
The report finds that smart, proven investments in Pennsylvania’s youngest learners are critically needed to protect the commonwealth’s competitive edge in a global marketplace. Such investments:
- Benefit children and parents: Twenty-three percent of children in Pennsylvania under six are from low-income, working families, yet only 5 percent of 3-year-olds and 13 percent of 4-year-olds are enrolled in state-funded pre-k programs.
- Prepare children for the classroom: Early deficits are reflected in school, where at-risk students who have missed out on early education opportunities often struggle to keep up with classmates, even from the first day of kindergarten. Many students fail to catch up: a full 44 percent of Pennsylvania fourth graders perform below grade level in math, and 40 percent perform below grade level in reading.
- Help earn caps and gowns: Fourteen percent of high school students in Pennsylvania still have not donned a cap and gown after four years. And among high school graduates, only 38 percent meet the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks in the four core areas (English, reading, math, and science) and may not have the skills necessary for postsecondary education.
- Aid in college and careers: By 2020, 63 percent of jobs and 62 percent of job vacancies in Pennsylvania will require postsecondary education. Longitudinal studies of the Abecedarian
project have shown that high-quality early learning from six months to age 5 can improve students’ rates of college completion. Higher education often means higher earnings: one study estimated that the additional lifetime income if Pennsylvania’s dropouts had graduated with their class in 2011 was over $4 billion.
Today’s ELIC summit convenes nearly 200 business and civic leaders from across the commonwealth to discuss early learning and child development. The commission is made up of governor-appointed business leaders who understand the value of investing in early learning as a means to build an effective, competitive workforce and a stronger economy.
ReadyNation is the preeminent business leader organization working to strengthen business and the economy through effective investments in children and youth. For more information, visit www.readynation.org.
Pre-K for PA is an issue campaign supported by individuals and organizations across Pennsylvania who believe that investing in our children is the right choice and an urgent necessity. The campaign’s vision is that every 3- and 4-year-old in Pennsylvania will have access to high-quality pre-k. For more information, visit www.prekforpa.org.
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Indiana Gazette: Forum Highlights Early Education Issues
During an Early Learning Forum at Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, experts discussed how expanding access to high-quality pre-kindergarten programs is essential to school readiness, crime prevention, workforce development and future national security.
Child advocates, law enforcement, and business and military leaders participated in the forum, including state Rep. Dave Reed, R-Indiana; Indiana County Sheriff Robert Fyock; and Rear Adm. Thomas J. Wilson of Mission: Readiness — Military Leaders for Kids.
Mission: Readiness is a national security nonprofit organization that aims to reverse the high percentage of youths ineligible for military service.
The event was planned by partners of the Pre-K for Pennsylvania Campaign: The Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children; Mission: Readiness; and Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a nonpartisan crime prevention organization. It was part of a series sponsored by PNC Bank’s Grow Up Great Initiative.
“Unfortunately, 72 percent of young adults in Pennsylvania cannot meet the military’s standards in math, reading and problem-solving,” Wilson said in a press release. “High-quality pre-K is a proven investment that will help reverse this trend.”
In Indiana County, officials said, 68 percent of the roughly 1,900 3- and 4-year-olds do not have access to a high-quality pre-K program.
Fyock, speaking on behalf of Fight Crime, said quality pre-K helps build a solid foundation for educational success, which in turn impacts crime prevention.
To read the entire article, please click here.
