Early Childhood Education
Early childhood education:
The best investment we can make in our future
Momentum for prekindergarten programs has increased significantly across the country in recent years, yet this critical investment continues to fall by the wayside in the Kansas Legislature. Research increasingly proves that children with access to early childhood education make significant headway in language development, pre-reading and math skills and social and emotional skills that are recognized widely as critical to a successful workforce. This is why House Democrats moved to amend the FY 2009 Omnibus budget to add $11 million to the Early Childhood Block Grant, which will help fund children's initiatives. This is only half of Governor Sebelius' original proposal in 2008 to commit $23 million in block grant funding for early childhood education, but it offers $11 million more than Republican leadership committed to the initiative.
There is no question quality early learning programs require a significant investment. States have considered a number of methods for funding early learning. This block grant proposal is based off a model some states implemented to distribute funds to districts through a formula grant based on certain criteria (such as poverty rates). Another option could be to include early childhood education in the school finance formula, which is how we currently allocate money to school districts. This would involve including all day kindergarten in the formula. No matter what avenue we pursue, the Legislature cannot afford to continue ignoring early childhood education in Kansas.
As part of our early intervention efforts, the Legislature also funded an additional 20 State Autism Waivers, which will allow more children that meet the Autism Spectrum Disorder criteria to receive services. Studies prove that early intervention treatment of children with autism significantly helps improve their quality of life by improving functional skills and decreasing need for public assistance.
We know that early learning is directly connected to student success in later years. In turn, this leads to higher graduation rates, increased earnings and employment, reduced incarceration, with more students going to college. All of these outcomes contribute to a stronger and more prosperous future for all of Kansas. Kansas House Democrats will continue to champion early childhood education initiatives in the Legislature- it is the best possible investment we can make in our children and our state.
