Citizens Voice: LTE: Policy Makers Need to Expand Pre-K Services
February 25, 2016
It was disappointing to read that 80 percent of Luzerne County’s 3- and 4-year old children lack access to a high quality pre-K (Jan. 20). The article summarized the school readiness and cost savings benefits associated with further investments in pre-K, but it neglected to mention the impact on future national security.
The sad reality is that more than 70 percent of Pennsylvania’s young people cannot enlist in the Armed Forces. Inadequate education, criminal record and/or obesity are the principal disqualifiers.
For years, military leaders associated with the national security nonprofit organization Mission: Readiness have called for greater access to pre-K to help reverse this trend and ensure that our next generation has the skills, health and character needed to succeed both in military service and our civilian workforce.
As part of the 2016-17 state budget, our state policy makers have the opportunity to expand pre-K services to an additional 14,000 at-risk children. Investing in this next generation that one day will fill the ranks of our military and civilian workforce must be a priority.
Joseph F. Perugino
Kingston
Gant News: LTE: United Way Asks for Commonwealth’s Support of Pre-K Programs
February 3, 2016
Dear Editor:
Members of the Clearfield Area United Way believe in early-learning/school readiness. CAUW member agencies are making differences in the lives of children daily; our Reading Ripples program has distributed 3,500 books to area children.
Research continues to confirm that high-quality Pre-K programs are among the best and most cost-effective initiatives.
Pennsylvania is home to nearly 300,000 3- and 4-year-olds, including 1,700 in Clearfield County. Only a small fraction of these children are enrolled in publicly-funded Pre-K programs.
Many of those missing out are those at risk of academic failure. In fact, 542 kids in all lacked access to a publicly-funded, high-quality Pre-K program last year.
Community philanthropic organizations have made efforts to promote high-quality Pre-K programs but cannot get the job done alone.
We need the Commonwealth to bolster its efforts to fund Pre-K programs and to reach those children who are missing out.
A new report by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children and the non-partisan Pre-K for PA, outlines a multi-year investment that could help reach nearly 71,000 additional 3- and 4-year-olds over a four-year span.
If Pennsylvania were to follow through on the investment strategy proposed, it could make publicly-funded, quality Pre-K available to more than 40 percent by 2019. This is compared to the fewer than 20 percent who benefited in 2013.
We could reach all of our Commonwealth’s at-risk 3- and 4-year-olds and help them to succeed.
United Way and other organizations across Pennsylvania have been doing their part to make Pre-K a priority because we know it works.
It benefits our children, our communities and our entire Commonwealth. We are requesting the Commonwealth to step up now and make Pre-K a budget priority this year and in the years ahead so our region’s children can reach the fullest potential.
Sincerely,
Nancy M. Pinto
Clearfield Area United Way
Express-Times LTE: PA Should Boost Pre-K Program Funding
As an educator of young children in a Pre-K Counts Program, I have seen firsthand how it can help young learners from the start. The programs and opportunities provided to these children have broadened their horizons and have encouraged their learning in many ways.
Children who are encouraged to learn as young children grow into school age learners; they have excitement about learning and have a solid foundation upon which to build.
In the current economic setting we can only reach so many children, and we could reach so many more children and provide more educational opportunities if the state would increase the funding for high quality pre-K programs.
I hope the lawmakers and Gov. Wolf can work together to create a budget that expands access to high-quality pre-K as much as possible so more children can benefit the way my current students are benefiting from the program.
Johanna Andresen
Easton
Read the Letter here.
Lancaster Online: Letter to the Editor: Wolf pre-K funding would serve Pa. well
Reducing crime and limiting its future costs are some of the key reasons Gov. Tom Wolf and Republican lawmakers included increased funding for high-quality pre-K in their respective budget plans.
There is good reason for making this increased investment. High school dropouts are three and a half times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested, and more than eight times as likely to be incarcerated. Pennsylvania houses nearly 50,000 state prison inmates costing the commonwealth about $2 billion each year. Half of these inmates failed to earn a high school diploma.
Research is clear that front-end education investments in high-quality pre-K improve graduation rates and help prepare kids for more successful lives.
The Republican budget plan would provide access to an additional 3,500 of the more than 200,000 3- and 4-year olds in our state who lack access to high-quality pre-K each year. That includes 79 percent, or about 11,000 of Lancaster County’s 14,000 3- and 4-year-olds who do not have access to high-quality pre-K because it doesn’t exist nearby or their families cannot afford it.
While we certainly commend the Legislature for this added investment, the 175 district attorneys, police chiefs and sheriffs throughout Pennsylvania who are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids are hopeful that a final state budget will allocate additional resources as Gov. Wolf has proposed to serve an additional 14,000 at-risk children who lack access to high-quality pre-K. For law enforcement, this would be filling a crime-prevention gap.
Bruce R. Clash
Pennsylvania State Director
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Harrisburg
Read the Letter to the Editor 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.
Sunbury Daily Item: LTE: Push for Pre-K Funding
I was glad to see Mary Ellen Jansen’s recent “My Turn” column touting the economic benefits of investing in early childhood education. I’d like to add the law enforcement perspective. District attorneys across Pennsylvania have long supported increasing access to high-quality pre-kindergarten programs as part of a comprehensive approach to reducing future crime.
The research is clear: front-end education investments in high-quality pre-K will improve graduation rates and decrease criminal behaviors. High school dropouts are 3 1/2 times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested, and more than 8 times as likely to be incarcerated. Indeed, half of Pennsylvania’s state prison inmates failed to obtain a high school diploma. This is why prosecutors from throughout Pennsylvania, from both political parties, publicly support these investments in order to prepare kids for more successful and lawabiding lives. In Snyder County 86 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds lack access to high-quality pre-K each year. In Northumberland County 80 percent lack this access, and in Union County it’s 78 percent. I commend both the General Assembly and the governor for prioritizing pre-K in their respective budgets. I hope that the final negotiated budget will include more funding to expand access to high-quality pre-K not only for its economic benefits, but as part of a proven crime prevention strategy.
Snyder County District Attorney Michael Piecuch is a member of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids and the Early Learning Investment Committee of the Susquehanna River Valley.
Read the Letter to the Editor here.
