NBC 10’s evening news covers Pre-K for PA’s delivery of signed petitions to Governor Tom Corbett and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf.
Watch the full report here.
The editors of the Erie Reader take a stand in support of pre-K in this editorial:
“Of the 296,957 children ages 3 and 4 in Pennsylvania, 208,991 don’t have access to high-quality pre-K learning opportunities. More shocking yet, 178,795 — or 60 percent — of those children live in families below 300 percent poverty, and currently there are only enough public funds to make pre-K available for less than 20 percent of 3 and 4-year old statewide. Furthermore, a new report by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) reveals that Pennsylvania ranks 30th out of 41 states that provide high-quality pre-k to 4-year-olds.
In Erie County alone, 6,864 children don’t have access to that high-quality pre-K education. And if current poverty trends have taught us anything, that number simply won’t reduce itself.
That’s why in a year in which we’ll either re-elect our current governor or decide someone else is a better fit for the job, as well as make critical decisions for who represents us in the state legislature, we want to turn our attention — and yours — to the PreK for PA initiative to help ensure this issue gets the attention it deserves from those making the funding decisions in Harrisburg.”
Read the full story here.
Research is clear that the education process should start early with high-quality pre-kindergarten that capitalizes on a child’s most rapid period of brain development. It also shows this high quality start results in improved long-term academic performance and can increase graduation rates by as much as 44 percent.
Unfortunately less than 30 percent of Pennsylvania’s 3 and 4-year olds have access to high-quality Pre-K. When state lawmakers return to Harrisburg in June, they should ensure that more kids are served by accepting Governor Corbett’s proposed increase to Pre-K Counts as part of the final budget.
Like futuristic weapons, investing in future human capital is also a critical national security strategy.
“Last week, after the Democratic primary winner was announced, Pre-K for PA and its 10 founding members sent an open letter to gubernatorial candidates. Pre-K for PA is an issue-based campaign started in January advocating for expanded, high quality pre-K.
Surveys show that this effort has bipartisan support, according to the letter. Read Generocity.org’s story The Fight for Expanded Prekindergarten Gains Force in PA to see where the candidates stand.
The letter also mentioned how Pennsylvania ranks 30th out of 41 states in the quality of its pre-K access for 4-year-old children (down from 28th last year) and currently only enrolls 12 percent of 4-year-olds.”
Read the full story here.
Congratulations on being chosen by your respective parties as candidates for governor in the 2014 general election.
Through the course of the primary campaign, you may have noticed a determined group advocating for a large segment of Pennsylvania citizens that can’t vote: children. Pre-K for PA launched in late January, and has since signed up thousands of Pennsylvanians who support our cause of making high-quality pre-k accessible to all 3- and 4-year-olds in Pennsylvania. Polling shows this issue has broad bi-partisan support.
Pre-K for PA has the support of many business leaders throughout the commonwealth. Among those leaders, we are proud that David L. Cohen penned an op-ed published last month in The Philadelphia Inquirer that stated: “Early-childhood education today is not just a ‘nice to have’ – it is an educational, moral, and societal imperative essential to building the workforce of the future. I am proud to support a statewide coalition (Pre-K for PA) of 10 leading organizations that are working to change the future for Pennsylvania’s children.”
Pennsylvania slipped on both preschool access and resource rankings in 2012-2013, according to the latest State of Preschool Yearbook from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). Pennsylvania now ranks 30th out of 41 states that provide pre-k access for 4-year-olds (down from 28th a year earlier), enrolling only 12 percent of 4-year-olds.
The State of Preschool report only underscores the urgency for making state investments in high-quality pre-k a priority. Many other states are more aggressively investing in pre-k because they know it has a proven, long-term return on investment. Pennsylvania needs to pick up the pace or risk falling further behind.
Only 1 in 6 of Pennsylvania’s 3- and 4-year-olds has access to high-quality, publicly funded pre-k. We ask that you make changing that dismal statistic a priority in your campaign for governor, because it is clear we can do much better.
Pre-K for PA is prepared to share with your campaign the many creative ways other states have broadened access to pre-k. The examples come from states as diverse as Oklahoma, Maryland, Illinois, West Virginia, Georgia, New York and more. What they have in common is the political will to provide the best opportunity for their youngest citizens.
Between now and the general election, Pre-K for PA will be aggressively expanding our leadership and grassroots support. While the campaign will not endorse, we will be reaching more and more voters who will want each gubernatorial candidate to make a clear and convincing case that, if elected, he will make access to high-quality pre-k a reality for every 3- and 4-year-old in the commonwealth by 2018. We hope to work with you to offer ideas for how that can happen while we grow our local support in ways that demonstrate to you the political wisdom of incorporating the goals of Pre-K for PA into your campaign’s policy goals in order to support a winning election strategy for governor.
Sincerely,
Sharon Easterling, Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children
Steven Wray, Economy League of Greater Philadelphia
Bruce Clash, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Steve Doster, Mission: Readiness
Jodi Askins, Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children
Blair Hyatt, Pennsylvania Head Start Association
Joan Benso, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children
Michelle Figlar, Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children
Donna Cooper, Public Citizens for Children and Youth
Diane Castelbuono, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey
“If Pennsylvania funded prekindergarten for all three and four-year-olds, according to a report by ReadyNation/America’s Edge, the investment would generate $800 million in additional goods and services and create almost 28,000 new jobs statewide.
Most importantly, it would benefit children across the state. Several studies show high quality pre-K has been shown to improve graduation rates and increase overall quality of life, according to the same report.
In this first part of a two-part series, Generocity looks at how the push for expanded, quality pre-K is gaining force as politicians and business and nonprofit leaders express their support for some kind of reform.”
Read the full story here.
