Ask any candidate for statewide office about the important issues facing Arkansans. Chances are, education will be one of the first words out of their mouths.
Sure, there will be comments about creating jobs, raising incomes, bolstering the economy, reducing crime, making a dent in poverty. But which of those or so many other issues is not positively affected by education? When it comes to improving the lives -- the entire lives -- of children, early education is one of the most fundamentally efficient paths to success. Better education typically translates into higher incomes and and more opportunities.
What’s The Point?
The Bentonville School District becomes the most recent to embrace funding for expansion of early childhood education programs, which hold a key to a brighter future for Arkansas.
Without programs directed at this key issue, too many children show up when the time comes in public schools entirely unprepared to begin learning.
Since the early 1990s, Arkansas has focused some attention and some funding on making pre-kindergarten education available to kids in poverty. While advocates give the state credit for progress, they also note there is a lot of room for improvement. Reliable increases in funding to reach most, if not all, of Arkansas' children compete against the state's many other needs. Indeed, next year's legislative session is already stacking up as a prison funding session as the state struggles with overcrowding. Lawmakers should also constantly remind themselves that the state's pre-k programs are also overwhelmed and in need of expansion.
The issue is, thankfully, front and center in the state's gubernatorial campaign. Both candidates, Democrat Mike Ross and Republican Asa Hutchinson, say they support pre-kindergarten education. Ross has offered a 10-year plan to expand the state's pre-k program, at an annual cost of $37 million once it's fully implemented. No child should ever be on a waiting list for pre-k, Ross said.
Hutchinson has said he wants to better fund the existing program.
Pre-k education is by no means universal in our state. Opportunities vary from community to community and school district to school district.
The Bentonville School District is the most recent to deliver good news on the pre-k front. Last week, the school board members approved acceptance of two grants that will increase access to preschool programs for low-income families. The Endeavor Foundation will provide $97,200 annually for three years to expand capacity of pre-school programs at Tennie Russell Primary School by 20 slots. The Care Foundation will provide $194,400 a year for three years to provide 40 slots at the Building Bridges program at Wildcat Way, next to Washington Junior High School.
These additional funds are outstanding, but the fact they come from nonprofit groups for limited periods gives a clearer indication of the uncertainty of funding for long-term expansion of pre-k programs. When some at-risk kids are accepted and some are not, Arkansas cannot say its early childhood education is meeting the state's needs.
We commend the efforts of the state and our local school districts to create hope for brighter futures through pre-k programs. All school and political leaders should recognize the dollars they spend educating the state's youngest residents are among the best investments they can make for the state and its communities.
Commentary on 07/30/2014