Plea to Decision Makers: At Least Maintain Early Child Ed We Now Have!

Our country is feeling the trickle-down impact of extended financial recession. In the last week, we are told by President on down to states and local school systems that the only thing they know for sure is we have less money to fund everything. Our school superintendents use generalizations and categories to vaguely describe where cuts must be made. "We will work out the shortfalls of Fiscal Year 2010 and reduced budget of Fiscal Year 2011 together" said our local Superintendent. Was he trying to make the local board feel better because he is a team player?

Administrators administrate. Its consoling in a broad way to see in the newspaper that a team of administrators with various points of view, various takes on what works and what helps the teachers teach and the kids learn will be having long debates before deciding the fate of public education.

Teachers will have to comply with their decisions, with some losing their jobs. Beyond them, we are the public; our children or our neighbor's children will be the ultimate recipients of the administrators discernment. What will we still have for our kids? What will we lose?? It is a critical hour in the history of public education.

What do I want to say about public education's impact on early child education?
Headstart is a much beleaguered attempt to bring some education to the poorest children in our land. The theory of Headstart is solid. It has been suffering from inconsistent funding from on high, especially from 2000-2008. The theories of getting the parents involved as active partners in their 4 yr old's preparation for kindergarten is important. The directors and teachers of Headstarts often have found their good theories and excellent strategies thwarted by lack of funds in the past. We hear much about increasing support of them in the past year. But what now?

In many states there are State-Funded Pre-Kindergartens. These were established in response to the number of children who either exceeded the number of places in mandated Headstart class sizes, or whose families slightly exceeded the mandated income limit. These low income families also cannot afford any private educational helps for their children, but they come to pre-screen hoping that they will get into State-Funded Pre-K if not Headstart. They have not given their child the beginning education at home that they would like their child to have to prepare for kindergarten.

The directors and head teachers of these classes also know that parents need to be encouraged to be partners in their child's preparation for lifelong learning. They all know that learning is best started in the home. Yet even these well-meaning teachers best ideas and strategies have been limited by funding shortfalls in the past.

These publicly funded early child educators have been fighting the good fight to bring attention to the needs of our youngest citizens. They have been doing their best with funds that are made available to them. They have established contact with most of the low-income parents aware enough to seek help for their little ones. I believe they are one vital connection, to relieve the early literacy crisis that looms across our land, that we cannot afford to cutback.

Literacy for Tykes' work has been through various human service and educational services who have identified at-risk children. Headstarts and State-Funded Pre-Kindergartens have been two of the partner organizations who by their nature identify such needy families /children. The beauty of working with parents who have come to these groups is that the parents' interest self-selects them as caring enough to possibly follow through with books given them for home reading. Our fund raising has made available an excellent home-reading program to these educational groups that nicely complements what they are able to do with their funding. Our books and materials are completely in keeping with their philosophies of parent involvement.

We all know that home-language development and home-reading need to be the first learning experiences dictated by the way children really learn. For those parents who have not started home reading of pictures books on their own, these educational groups have been able to encourage them to do so. Our materials have found a workable distribution and continued use through the enthusiastic response of these educators and our other partners.

In summary, I am saying to all decision makers, please continue to fund both Headstarts and State-Funded Pre-Kindergartens. Look elsewhere to cut expenses. See my many other blogs to understand the whole picture of how vital it is to give every possible child the best start toward a life of learning and making a good life for themselves in the future. We all benefit.