It makes sense to celebrate a great idea when one shows up and this one, in particular, certainly qualifies as a great idea. According to this article by Kevin Drum in Mother Jones, the new Governor of California, Gavin Newsome, is floating a legislative initiative to fund a pre-k year and full day kindergarten for children attending California public schools. Now that sounds like a downright important idea.
For decades, the constant refrain from education scholars has been that the best way for a child to excel academically in elementary and high school is to be adequately prepared for kindergarten. To be prepared requires informed parenting and emphasizing language development and literacy during the toddler years..
Unfortunately, many young parents, especially those dealing with issues of poverty do not have the knowledge or experience from their own childhood to engage in smart parenting. They do not understand the importance of providing rich reading and numbers activities for their children to enhance their school readiness. As a result, many poor students show up on the first day of kindergarten already behind.. And if they haven’t caught up with their age peers by third grade, subsequent remediation will not be able fill all of their cognitive gaps.
That is why early childhood education looms as one of the biggest challenges most states need to consider. California will be showcasing this state wide program and if it succeeds, can become a framework for other states to follow.
It has been argued that a every state has one of two budgetary choices: They can spend money to educate children up front in pre-k classes and full day kindergarten. Or they can spend the money on the back end with full scale juvenile detention centers and exorbitant prison system costs.
And here is the best news of all. Incoming Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer plans to make early childhood education a budget priority. She intends to “focus on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life’ and “get Michigan on a path to universal preschool to ensure that when kids enter kindergarten, they are ready to learn.”
To accomplish these goals, Whitmer and those on the left will need to make it clear to the Michigan Legislature that this plan makes perfect economic sense. Paying for kids’ early education saves millions of tax dollars currently going for incarceration costs. After eight years of a GOP Administration in which Michigan student performance has hit rock bottom, this idea is one Michigan citizens should readily embrace.. Let’s plan to pay close attention to Whitmer’s budget plans and jump in with support when she starts extolling early childhood education.
Enjoy the article.
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/01/california-governor-elect-kicks-off-2019-with-early-childhood-spending-proposal/
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Can we make lemonade out of political lemons? Writing daily since November 9th, 2016