Summary
The economists in the coalition vouched for the findings of the Perry Preschool study, one of the most-cited analyses of the benefits of early childhood education, which found that spending $1 now on preschool can save $17 down the line on the costs for special education, incarceration, and an undereducated workforce.\n Advocacy groups helped encourage citizens to send more than 40,000 e-mails to state legislators, and conducted thousands of face-to-face meetings with representatives, training parents and educators about how to lobby in Harrisburg as well. Hillary Clinton and Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican, have introduced the Ready to Learn Act, which would make federal funds available to states through a competitive process to help them deliver preschool through schools, child-care and Head Start centers, and other community-based providers, borrowing heavily from the success of the Illinois and Pennsylvania models.
See the full content of this document
Extract
Pre-K Politics in the States
AS A CANDIDATE IN 2002, GOV. ROD Blagojevich of Illinois promised voters that his administration would boost investments in early childhood programs. He ratcheted up funding by $30 million each year for his first three years in office, helping reach 25,000 more of the state's neediest children. But in 2006, he came out with his biggest promise yet: quality, universal preschool for all 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds.
"Nothing is more important to parents than their children, and nothing is more important to a child's future than getting a good education," said Blagojevich in a press statement at the time his proposal was released. "And that's where preschool comes in."Blagojevich's promise did not come out of the blue. It was built on more than 20 years of grassr...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
