Source: Times Record
By Herb Paris and Glenn Hutchinson
Published: Friday, February 11, 2011 2:07 PM EST
Like many of their national colleagues, newly elected lawmakers in Maine face two major challenges: managing shrinking budgets and supporting policies that will strengthen America’s workforce and grow our economy. Maine’s ability to compete with our neighboring states as well as in the global international marketplace depends on both.
As the governor and legislators grapple with these tough questions, we encourage them to consider something that may not be obvious: greater investments in high-quality early childhood education. Such investments are a fiscally responsible way to reduce deficits long-term and produce big gains for children, our businesses and taxpayers. Lawmakers should have a serious conversation about protecting our current investments and, yes, increasing funding, for early childhood education.In the near-term, greater investments in the early childhood sector returns monies immediately to local economies. The national business leaders’ group America’s Edge cites economic impact research that shows that for every dollar spent on early childhood, nearly two dollars is returned to the state economy.
Research shows that investing in early learning can increase academic achievement and reduce costs associated with grade retention and special education services. Nationwide, we’re spending more than $10,000 per pupil on special education programs — that’s roughly $50 billion per year.
Over a lifetime, investments in early childhood education generate big returns for all of us. According to research by Nobel laureate economist James Heckman, comprehensive birth-to-5 early childhood education is one of the most cost-efficient approaches to increasing education, health and economic outcomes and lowering the costs of remediation and social dependence. During the course of their lives, disadvantaged children who experience high-quality early learning programs are more likely to be healthier, more self-sufficient and less likely to enter the criminal justice system. Heckman estimates that those real cost savings add up to as much as a 10 percent annual economic return on investment — a solid performance in any market.
Unfortunately, it’s not clear a majority of lawmakers in Augusta or Washington, D.C., know and understand this. During the lame-duck session of Congress in late December, lawmakers passed a continuing resolution that puts 300,000 children at risk of losing their Head Start, Early Head Start and child care.
Federal Head Start, Early Head Start and Child Care and Development Block Grant programs provide early childhood care and education for 2.5 million American families. Like the foundation of a home, these programs can build the solid base from which all later cognitive and character skills will develop and thrive.Success in school, college, career and life all start in the first years of life when the vast majority of our human brain is formed. At the same time, through interactions with parents, caregivers, and their peers, young children also develop the neurological brain circuitry for attentiveness, persistence, and teamwork — skills we need our young people to bring with them into our workplaces in the future. Cutting back on these programs represents a missed opportunity not only for the potential achievement of thousands of children, but for our local, state and national economies as well.
We urge policymakers in Washington to protect access to these important programs in both the current spending discussions as well as in contemplating a budget for FY 2012. In Maine, where 45,000 children live in poverty and one in four is low-income, the budget decisions our lawmakers make today will determine whether Maine’s at-risk children get the early childhood education they need to be prepared for school and life.
In tough economic times, families set priorities and focus on what matters most. Our elected officials should do the same. High-quality Head Start, Early Head Start and child care give at-risk children the early learning experiences they need for future success — and keep struggling low-income parents working today.
Quick fixes to our current fiscal problems shouldn’t come at the expense of cost-efficient investments like early learning that help families now and build a foundation for economic prosperity in the future.
Herb Paris is president and CEO of Mid Coast Health Services. Glenn Hutchinson is president and CEO of Bath Savings Institution.
