Start Early: Early Education a Must

Last week, those tuning into the President’s annual State of the Union address heard a strong message about the importance of investing in America’s present and future.  Education was highlighted as one of the key investments for moving the country forward.

Improving our nation’s education system to ensure that America can successfully compete in the world economy will involve several components—and early education must be one of them.  High-quality early education is necessary to give all our children a boost on the path toward academic and social success.  It can provide children with the learning skills, love of learning, motivation, and persistence that helps them when they enter school and throughout their schooling as well as in their jobs.

All children should enter their kindergarten classrooms prepared for school and hopeful about their futures.  Yet, this is not the reality for all children, especially poor children.  Kindergarten and elementary teachers can only do so much to overcome the disadvantages poor children face when they enter the classroom already so far behind.

It is essential to reach these children before they enter school—and doing so is a cost-effective strategy.  The benefits of early education investments include increased academic performance, improved health outcomes, decreased reliance on social service programs, lowered participation in criminal activity, and increased productivity and self-sufficiency among families.  Economists agree that these benefits outweigh the costs, which contributes to deficit reduction in the long run.

Head Start/Early Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant are our major federal early learning investments.  These programs make a real difference for the millions of families and children they serve, yet millions more vulnerable families and children are unable to participate.  Due to insufficient funding, only one in six eligible children receive child care assistance.  Only four percent of eligible infants and toddlers can participate in Early Head Start and less than half of eligible preschool-age children can access Head Start.

Acknowledging the importance of early learning and attempting to address these gaps, the economic recovery package passed in February 2009 included a prudent and essential expansion for these programs.  Yet these funds are in danger of being discontinued, which would result in 300,000 at-risk young children losing out on these crucial child care and early learning opportunities.  We are not reaching enough children as it stands, and even fewer children will be able to benefit from early learning programs if these funds are not provided.

In recent years, many political leaders at the federal, state, and local level—including the President—have voiced support for investing in early education as essential for strengthening education and, in turn, our nation’s future economy.  We are hopeful that they will continue this commitment to early learning and invest in America by investing in our children.  Congress should take the first step by sustaining the additional funding for early care and learning programs in the long-term FY 2011 appropriations measure, which must be passed by March 4th when the temporary funding measure expires.