Funding early learning pays off in the long run

I remember my son’s first day of kindergarten. It was 18 years ago, but I still can picture that circle of little faces around the big classroom table, with anxious parents hovering behind. And I remember my dismay upon realizing that even I, with no training, could pick out the kids in that circle who were going to struggle in school.

Kindergarten teachers in Washington reported in a survey a few years ago that more than half of children were entering their classrooms without the social skills and knowledge of such basics as colors and numbers that they needed. Though low-income kids are most likely to lack these skills, even in middle-class and high-income schools, significant numbers of children start out unprepared.

Kids who start out behind often don’t catch up. They fall further and further behind their classmates. By the time they get to high school, they are tuned out and ready to drop out.

Last week an association of police chiefs, prosecutors and crime victims called “Fight Crime: Invest in Kids” issued a new report. It states that high school dropouts are more than eight times more likely to be imprisoned than graduates. Based on the findings of other studies, the report concludes that increasing Washington’s graduation rate from 73 percent to 83 percent would reduce violent crime in the state by as much as one fifth, preventing 38 murders and 2,600 assaults each year.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids has more than 200 members in Washington, including the Snohomish County sheriff and prosecuting attorney and the police chiefs of most of the cities and jurisdictions in the county. As their name suggests, their major recommendation is that the state invest far more in our kids.

And, they’ve concluded, the earliest investments are the most effective. Providing high-quality early learning programs for more of our kids is one of the best ways to increase high school graduation rates and lower crime rates.

With most parents in the paid workforce, about one in four preschool-aged children are in licensed childcare and at least an equal number are in informal care arrangements with family members or friends. Yet childcare providers are poorly paid and have little incentive to pursue professional education in early learning.

Our state has made a good start on early learning programs. We have a number of high-quality programs, many of them targeted at the kids most at risk of not being ready for school. The problem is, the programs are underfunded so they don’t reach nearly all the kids they should.

For instance, we have a state version of Head Start, the highly successful federal program for low-income 3- and 4-year-olds. Washington’s program was expanded in the most recent state budget to serve 2,250 additional children. But the combined state and federal programs still have no room for more than 4 in 10 eligible kids. And these programs only serve the very poorest— the majority of low-income children aren’t even eligible.

Washington also has a Career and Wage Ladder that boosts the wages of childcare teachers and provides them with incentives for training and education. The program has been proven to increase the quality of care — but the program is currently available in only 3 percent of childcare centers in the state.

Two hundred years ago, Americans launched the audacious experiment of educating all children. In order for our fledgling democracy to survive, it seemed self-evident that we needed to have an educated citizenry. In the 21st century, with a global workforce and complex technology, our kids need far more than basic reading and writing. Our children need high level math, science and reasoning skills.

For every child to truly have the opportunity to reach their full potential, we need to start our investment in them long before they turn 5. And we need to do a better job at equipping parents to nurture their children through those early years.

Our state is facing a potential shortfall in funds when the Legislature reconvenes next January. But expanding early learning programs should be a top priority. No kid should start out on the first day of kindergarten already marked for failure.

Marilyn Watkins, policy director of the Economic Opportunity Instititue (www.eoionline.org), writes every other Wednesday. Her e-mail address is marilyn@eoionline.org.