Local Commentary

COMMENTARY

April 18, 2009

Childhood development investments yield big payoffs COMMENTARY Pete Danchak

DURING THIS recession, Pennsylvania will need to make funding decisions that will have a positive impact today. But as the state legislature weighs its options, a guiding principle should be to preserve programs that are sound and provide long-term benefits to the commonwealth.

In making these tough choices, I urge them to invest in Pennsylvania’s quality early education programs such as Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, Keystone STARS, Child Care Works, Early Intervention and Nurse-Family Partnership.

Luzerne County, as well as the state, has a tremendous amount to gain from investments in quality early education. According to the Office of Child Development and Early Learning, children in the county are at a moderate-to-high risk of failing in school. Nearly half (43.7 percent) of children under age 5 live in low-income families. Yet, less than half of the county’s children from birth to 5 participate in publicly funded programs.

Quality early education can help improve the outcomes for children and is a wise choice for Pennsylvania in that it:

• Increases children’s academic performance.

• Provides our schools with cost savings in special education and remediation, because more children will enter school ready to learn and won’t need expensive services.

• Makes it more likely that children will graduate high school and attend college or a career-training program.

• Extends children’s successes through adulthood; as a result, they are more likely to have higher earnings and own a home, purchase goods and services, invest in their communities and contribute more to our tax base while requiring fewer public services.

Pennsylvania’s early education system, and the programs it supports, benefit our economy today and position the state for future growth by:

• Keeping working families working. Families of about 1,600 young children in Luzerne County each month can continue to work and build job skills because they have access to the Child Care Works subsidy. Families with access to such child care assistance are up to 15 percent more likely to be employed, stay off welfare and have higher earnings.

• Preparing young children for school. In 2007-2008, about 70 percent of Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts children ended the school year with age-appropriate skills and behaviors, a more than 50 percent increase in the number of children showing age-appropriate skills than when they entered the classroom. About 354 children in Luzerne County are participating in Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts this year.

• Assisting special needs children. Nearly every child (99 percent) who entered Early Intervention after July 1, 2007 and exited before June 30, 2008 made progress from entry to exit based on teacher observation and reporting. About 1,400 of Luzerne County’s young children with special needs received individualized support through Early Intervention in 2007-2008.

• Improving the quality of early learning opportunities. About 25 percent of child-care programs participating in Keystone STARS in 2007-2008 continued to improve their quality. Nearly 4,240 children are enrolled in Keystone STARS programs in Luzerne County.

• Reducing crime. According to the Fight Crime: Invest in Kids organization, by the time the children in Nurse-Family Partnership had reached 15, both their mothers and the children had about 60 percent fewer arrests than mothers and children left out of the program. About 325 new mothers in Luzerne County were able to give their new babies a better start in 2007-2008 thanks to the Pennsylvania Nurse-Family Partnership.

At PNC, we are making good on our promise to improve and expand early childhood education through our Grow Up Great initiative, a 10-year, $100 million investment in school readiness among children from birth to age 5. Others in the business sector join us in understanding the importance of early childhood education and commit to investments to ensure that the future work force provides us the capable employees needed to compete and succeed.

Tight fiscal times require our state leaders to focus on priorities that can bring the greatest positive impact to our citizens and our economy. Let’s continue to make quality early education a priority for Pennsylvania.

Pete Danchak is president for PNC in Northeast Pennsylvania.

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