Early Education and Care: A Common Sense Investment
When it comes to investing in early childhood education and care, we are at a crossroads. On the one hand, a broad consensus across the political, economic and academic spectrum has emerged in support of investment in our youngest learners. At the same time, budget uncertainty and political gridlock impede our forward progress on this issue. We must move in the direction of investment, and doing so will be one of my top priorities as we debate the Commonwealth’s FY 2014 budget in the coming months.
In his State of the Union address last month, President Obama called for universal, high-quality pre-Kindergarten programs for all four year-olds. This move is supported by many in the business community who link early education to our nation’s future economic competitiveness. Ready Nation, a coalition of business leaders, supports early childhood policies and programs to strengthen our economy and workforce, arguing that “the foundation of many skills needed for 21st-century jobs is established in the earliest years.”
Our nation’s military leaders recognize this as well. The group Mission: Readiness, a nonpartisan national security organization of senior retired military leaders, has called for policymakers to ensure that we have a secure future, by “expanding high-quality early childhood education programs.”
The case is clear: the years between birth and age 5 are critical to brain development, and early education and child care programs provide opportunities not just for academic preparedness, but for social and emotional development as well.
These programs benefit us all. A growing body of research shows that children in
high-quality preschool programs are much more likely to graduate from high
school, get jobs, and pay taxes. Just as importantly, they are 50 percent less likely to commit a crime. And economists have quantified high rates of return for public investment in services for children under the age of five.
These child care programs do something else as well: they allow parents to work, to provide for their families, and to contribute to the Commonwealth’s economic development. But the truth is, far too many families can’t afford them. We live in a state with some of the highest child care costs in the nation.
Massachusetts is a national leader in early education and provides subsidies for child care to allow low-income parents to work or receive job training. However, we have not increased funding for this vital program in two years, and we have not increased the amount of the subsidy provided in six years. Consequently, tens of thousands of working families are on waiting lists to access care for their children.
Families in our communities depend on this program. Every month, on average, nearly 800 childcare subsidies are used in early education programs in our district. Many more families qualify and could benefit but are waiting in line.
This is not a tenable situation, and is compounded by the uncertain federal budget picture. We must increase the funding for this program and also increase access to high-quality programs. This means not only investing in child care vouchers, but also across our entire early education system, including our public schools. This will be one of my top priorities as we move forward with budget
discussions on Beacon Hill this spring.
Investment in early education makes sense: as a state, we should put our money where it matters most.
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Mark
7:53 am on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Katherine Clark Looking Out For You....... Not Really! Stoneham Gets Short end of Stick....... AGAIN!
Current and Proposed Chap 70 Funding:
Malden
FY13 - $46M FY14 - $47M Who knew hiring Interpreters and English as a Second Language Teachers for all those Illegals is so expensive.
Reading
FY13 - $9.9M FY14 - $10M
Melrose
FY13 - $7.6M FY14 - $7.7M
Winchester
FY13 - $7.1M FY14 - $7.3M
Wakefield
FY13 - $4.9M FY14 - $5.6M
Stoneham
FY13 - $3.4M FY14 - $3.9M
Really Katherine? Malden $47M and Stoneham $3M?
Mark
3:48 pm on Monday, March 18, 2013
The silence is deafening! No DARE officer in Stoneham Schools. While listening to the School Committee debate last week, the subject of the DARE officer or lack thereof was brought up. Who knew Stoneham lost their DARE officer. If Katherine Clark really was looking out for us, she would make sure this is funded by giving Stoneham what they deserve in Chap 70 funding.
How about it Katherine? Why are you funding Illegal Immigrants education over that of Stoneham's youth drug education?
Kay Sarah
9:51 am on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Katherine,
Kindergarten is not even mandatory in most states. Why don't we work on that first.
Diane Lee
9:59 am on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Early Education is not were it matters. Elementary, Middle and High school is were it matters.
Lisa D.
12:14 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
You need to do some research...Childrens brains develop more in the first 5 years of life than they do the rest of their entire life. The first 5 years are like the foundation of a home. If you don't build a strong foundation, you cannot build a structure that will last or be able to be added on to.
HB
10:58 am on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Children from age 3-5 could use some preschool settings with their peers (maybe a couple of hours a day), but still need a great deal of time in a low ratio (less than 10:1) setting, so that they have the freedom to play and grow their own identity. Spending all day with 20 other kids is not beneficial to them. Instead of giving more funding so parents can work, why not figure out how parents can spend more time with their kids.
mark patterson
12:24 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Dear Senator Clark,I f you ever have the opportunity to speak with Ed Markey,Elizabeth Warren or whoever replaces John Kerry in the Senate,please remind them of the following. (1)They work for US;not the other way around.(2) try actually answering email from constituents,or at least have a staffer respond.(3) The taxpayers demand a budget and Congress is obligated to put one in place.(4) If they can't do the previous three tasks then quit. Thank You for your attention to this matter.
Suzanne
12:44 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Is Malden on Katherine's watch? Haven't seen or heard from her since election time. Now she's running for office and she is in the Patch all the time. How about some people from Massachusetts running for MA political seats for a change. Every do nothing liberal comes to MA to run and they seem to always win too. How about taking a stand on serious issues like welfare fraud and illegal immigration?
Kay Sarah
4:37 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
I had a son that went to Headstart and a son that went to the Early Learning Center. The one that went to Headstart has always been behind. The third went to the Rockland and that was just a waste of money; he did not learn anything there. I am all for pre-school as long as there is a curriculum and the curriculum is monitored.
Patricia
9:19 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
I read recently where 80% of NY high school graduates cannot read. Would early education have helped? There is a real problem but I'm not convinced that dealing it at 4 years old is the answer. Also, don't parents read and teach their children? We started at home as I assume most parents do. Are we just making it easier for parents who are less involved, again rewarding bad behavior? I guess I am still undecided on this. Especially if by the time the child is 15, they've given up.
Sean
12:47 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
Why can't we have a regular person run for office? Someone who worked a real job, not a lawyer from somewhere else.
TJ
12:51 pm on Sunday, March 17, 2013
Can we have a real candidate please.
Myron Dittmer
4:16 pm on Sunday, March 17, 2013
Here we go again, another democrat agreeing with another democrat that we need increase taxes to spend another 100 million plus to add more money to a dependency program. Where have we heard this one before? Of course we have to do this because Senator Clark tells us that costs are so high in this state….and I suppose she can’t figure out why? Here is a hint, Sen. Clark….keep increasing taxes on the hard working middle class people in this state who unlike the poor are not eligible for free ECC….and in many cases can’t afford it! Also, I would be more in favor of spending this money for our children in grades K through 12 where it will have maximum impact on learning skills rather than spending more money in ECC programs where in a recent DHHS Grade 3 Head Start Impact Final Report in October 2012, the advantages of such efforts end up being minimal by grade 3! You can review the results at the following link…http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/research/project/head-start-impact-study-and-follow-up-2000-2012
Gina
1:54 pm on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
How about some real issues Sen Clark. Stop following the herd and do what the people want not the party.