Op-Ed Template on Early Childhood Funding

Submit an op-ed to local newspapers, both large and small, about the importance of sustaining and maintaining funding for early childhood programs by using this template. Please make sure to refer to the state by state chart on the total number of children at risk for losing child care slots to tailor this op-ed for your state. You can also check out this page for examples of recent op-eds on early childhood that have been published.

---

Our Best Investment in Tough Times: Families

 
Newly elected lawmakers across the country face two major challenges: managing shrinking budgets and supporting policies that will strengthen America’s workforce and get our economy growing again. Our nation’s prosperity depends on both.

Investing in early childhood education is a fiscally responsible way to reduce deficits and produce big gains for children and taxpayers. That’s why we must protect our current investments in early childhood education.

In the near-term, investing in early learning can increase academic achievement and reduce costs associated with grade retention and special education services. On a national level, we’re spending more than $10,000 per pupil on special education programs—that’s roughly $50 billion per year. [State advocates may add or customize here. Suggestion: “In [state] we’re spending…” States can input state spending for special education programs.]

Over a lifetime, investments in early childhood education generate big returns for all of us. According to research by Nobel Laureate economist James Heckman, it’s one of the most cost efficient approaches to increasing education, health and economic outcomes and lowering the costs of remediation and social dependence. During the course of their lives, children who experience quality early learning programs will be healthier, more self-sufficient and less likely to enter the criminal justice system. Those real cost savings add up to as much as a 10 percent annual economic return—a solid performance in any market.

Unfortunately, it’s not clear lawmakers in Washington, D.C. have learned this. The House of Representatives has passed a drastic funding bill that strips Head Start, Early Head start and Child Care from more than 300,000 children. Here in [state], at least [Column “B”] risk being thrown out of these programs. Now is the moment for the Senate to take a better path and pass a bill so that no child loses valuable Head Start, Early Head Start and Child Care.

The federal Early Head Start, Head Start, and Child Care and Development Block Grant programs provide quality early childhood education for 2.5 million American families. These programs build the engine of cognitive and character skills drive success in school, college, career and life. At the same time, through interactions with parents, caregivers, and their peers, young children also develop attentiveness, persistence, and teamwork—skills researchers say are the building blocks of future success in college, career and life. Cutting back on these programs represents a missed opportunity not only for thousands of children, but for all of us.

In tough economic times, families set priorities and focus on what matters most. Our elected officials should do the same. Early Head Start, Head Start, and child care give at-risk children the early learning experiences they need for future success—and keep struggling low-income parents working today. Quick fixes to our current fiscal problems shouldn’t come at the expense of cost-efficient investments like early learning that help families now and build a foundation for economic prosperity in the future.

###