During his campaign for the presidency, President-elect Barack Obama stressed the importance of increased funding for early childhood education.
On his Web site, Obama describes his administration's "Zero to Five" plan that would provide "critical support for young children and their parents." He has pledged to pump $10 billion into the early childhood education system.
Arne Duncan, the superintendent of Chicago schools and Obama's choice for secretary of education, also is a major advocate for early childhood education and helped Obama draft his extensive education platform.
Obama's promises are music to the ears of local early childhood specialists.
Linda Broyles, deputy director of the Southeast Kansas Community Action Program, said she listened to both presidential candidates during the campaign to hear their views on early childhood education, as SEK-CAP manages Head Start programs in 12 counties in southeast Kansas.
"Everything that I heard during the campaign and everything that I've read since then that Mr. Obama has said tells me that he understands the needs of early childhood and the advantages of early childhood education," Broyles said.
Head Start is an early childhood education program that serves income-eligible families with children up to 5 years old. The program offers developmentally appropriate educational activities that strengthens the child's education from the beginning.
The national Head Start program was created in 1965 and is the longest-running program that aims to tackle systematic poverty in the United States. A program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it now serves more than 900,000 children, including more than 830 in southeast Kansas.
Broyles said Obama's plan to add billions in funding for early childhood education could have a major impact on Head Start programs here and across the country. For SEK-CAP Head Start, it could mean everything from program additions to wage increases.
"Programs like Head Start have been on level funding for a very long time and then we've also had a budget cut," Broyles said. "Our funding has not even kept up with inflation. Increased funding could mean we could put back some things we've had to cut because we just didn't have enough money."
Those cuts have included staff reductions and decreased transportation services, while tight budgets also have not allowed for pay raises or program expansion.
"If we got an increase in funding, we could bring the program up to the level where we should be," Broyles said. "Being able to pay staff a living wage would be a really good thing. Funding can be the difference between having a quality program and an excellent program."
Broyles said she doesn't feel that early childhood education has been neglected. She said it's more a matter of early childhood educators "doing a better job of telling the story of what early education really means."
"Research shows that for every dollar we have invested in early childhood programs, it will save society between $7 and $10," she said. "If we can impact these kids at an early age and teach them some of the skills they need to succeed in life — problem solving, conflict resolution and the social skills they need to get along — we can make a significant impact. I think people are finally learning how important it is."
Monica Murnan, executive director of the Family Resource Center in Pittsburg, said early childhood education is just as important as the lessons student learn in kindergarten through high school. She said increased funding is vital to employing quality educators who can make the most difference in the lives of young children.
"Now that we have accepted zero to 5 as an important component of education, where the system needs to be funded is in a qualified workforce that is compensated according to the educational model," Murnan said. "Recruitment and retention of that workforce is where the investment needs to be. Everything else will fall into place after that.
"While there were people out there doing a really good job with zero to 5, we now know so much more and it's time to retool the whole workforce," she said.
Murnan said if the federal government is going to spend money to improve education, spending that money on early childhood education is the way to go.
"If we want to be looking at investment of dollars, it's been proven through economic indicators that we'll definitely get more bang for the buck if the dollars are invested early," she said.
Lorene Hoffman, director of the Southeast Kansas Community Child Care Learning Center, said increased funding could open up more spots for infant care, which would also allow educators to reach more children.
"Funding early childhood education is very important because if children get that good start, there will be less problems in school and those students may need less funding as they go along further through school," she said. "With more money, we could offer more scholarships for families."
Early childhood education is one of many issues Obama will have to deal with when he takes office on Jan. 20, 2009, along with a struggling economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But Broyles remains confident that the new president will keep his promise to help out the nation's youngest.
"I believe he will do what he can, based on our economy right now, to be supportive," she said. "I do think he is actually listening to our concerns. Of course the president can't do it all by himself, but I also think the legislature will do what they can to help make these programs even stronger."
PITTSBURG —
