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Business adds muscle to early education
movement
by Rosa A. Smith and Doriane Lambelet Coleman, Boston
Globe, 9/29/2002
For more articles on disabilities and special ed visit
www.bridges4kids.org.
While some hailed the ''Leave No Child Behind Act'' and the
recent Supreme Court decision in favor of school vouchers as
revolutionary changes in education, a far more significant
shift in educational policy is quietly occurring and will have
enormous impact on children, parents, the economy, and society
as a whole. A cross-section of powerful players want to fix an
inadequate system affecting tens of millions of Americans
daily: child care.
First lady Laura Bush has taken on the task of promoting
better child care. While she recently stopped short of calling
for a universally accessible child-care system, she drew
attention to the importance of quality early care and
education.
''There simply is no excuse for any of our youngest and most
vulnerable children to be forced to climb uphill just as they
enter school,'' Bush told the Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions early this year. ''It is a tough
enough transition as is. No matter what their circumstances of
birth, we have to strive to level the playing field for those
youngsters born into conditions that limit opportunities to
develop and learn.''
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, was more
direct about what children and parents need in a January
address before the National Press Club: ''Over the next five
years, we should develop the capacity to assure that every
child has access to quality early education, starting at
birth.''
While it's compelling that the likes of Mrs. Bush and Kennedy
appear to be collaborating on this issue, the strongest
endorsement for universal and quality child care came recently
from the Committee for Economic Development. This highly
regarded group of public-policy analysts is supported by such
firms as J.P. Morgan, Merck, and Ford.
''The Committee for Economic Development (CED) calls on the
federal and state governments to undertake a new national
compact to make early education available to all children
three and over. To ensure that all children have the
opportunity to enter school ready to learn, the nation needs
to reform its current haphazard, piecemeal, and underfunded
approach to early learning by linking programs and providers
into coherent state-based systems,'' says CED's report
''Preschool for all. Investing in a productive and just
society.''
Estimating that the price tag for this new level of public
education will cost taxpayers between $25 billion and $35
billion per year, the amount may turn out to be lower if a
portion of the Child Care and Development and Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families child-care aid gets rolled into
those figures. The Center for Law and Policy estimates those
federal agencies spent a combined $9 billion in 2000 on
child-care subsidies.
Why has the influential CED joined the battle cry for
universal and quality child care? Because it makes good
business sense and will ultimately save the nation lots of
money.
Unlike elementary and secondary school education, early care
and education has been treated as a consumer service instead
of as an investment that brings about essential benefits for
society as a whole. A 2001 report by the US Department of
Labor estimates that 72 percent of women in the work force
have children ages 3 to 5, proving the number of workers and
children who have a stake in this issue is high and so are the
costs.
The CED estimates public and private spending on early care
and education total $50 billion to $55 billion annually on
children from birth to age 5. CED further estimates parents
will pick up 50 to 55 percent of those costs, with federal and
state governments picking up 25 to 30 percent and 15 to 20
percent, respectively.
By mandating state-level early care and education programs,
tens of billions of dollars will be saved and can be
redirected to other parts of the economy. Aside from the ever
present American bottom line, there are, of course, many other
compelling reasons why the wealthiest and most developed
nation in the world should provide early care and education
for all of its children.
The research on early child education is replete with evidence
of its social, academic, and economic benefits. All of this
clarity begs for a system drastically different than what is
the norm and suggests a strategy that will improve the
educational trajectory of all children.
Rosa A. Smith, PhD is president of The Caroline and Sigmund
Schott Foundation and The Schott Center for Public and Early
Education in Cambridge. Doriane Lambelet Coleman teaches at
Duke Law School and is the author of ''Fixing Columbine: The
Challenge to American Liberalism.''
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