The Case for Pre-K

The Case for Pre-K

Start Strong

Good afternoon. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today about expanding access to high-quality Pre-K education - a priority that I believe is essential for preparing our children for a global economy where knowledge is currency and their ability to learn and relearn - throughout the course of their lifetime - will determine their success.

Already, there are a lot of things Virginia is doing right when it comes to education. Our early and consistent application of classroom accountability measures - like our Standards of Learning Testing Program - is leading to tangible improvements in even our most challenged schools and impressive gains by our students on the SATs and other national tests.

We must continue to be bold and innovative to tackle the challenges that remain. From the learning-readiness concerns we have with some of our children entering kindergarten to the issues of drop-out rates and achievement gaps in our high schools, I believe expanding the access Virginia families have to high-quality Pre-K education is the most lasting and important step we can take to improving public education in Virginia.

I say that as the former principal on a vocational school; as the former Mayor of Richmond who worked to turn-around a school system after years of decline; as a former Lt. Governor who campaigned for the office on the single issue of fully funding our schools and took the time to talk with students, parents and educators in nearly every school system in the state.

And most importantly, I say that as a father of three children, who have attended Richmond public school for their entire life. Education policy is more than just a hypothetical issue for me. The decisions we make come back to me every day…usually crumpled up in the bottom of a book bag.
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When I was putting together my education platform, I consulted education experts, looking for the single most powerful change we could make to our education system. Expert after expert told me that expanding early childhood education would give us the biggest bang for our buck. Let me share a statistic with you that demonstrates how powerful an impact early childhood education can make on our educational system.

Every year in Virginia, 26,000 students fail the 3rd grade reading Standards of Learning exam. Half of them go on to fail the reading SOL exam again in the 5th grade. And often the achievement gaps we see later on, on the SATs and other exams, are simply a continuation of this problem.

As a rule, this early performance indicator - the 3rd grade reading SOL exam - is an accurate predictor of an individual's future success, not just in school but throughout life. Too often, failing that test portends problems in school, time in the juvenile justice system and later in the criminal justice system and a life that falls short of its potential.

I have set an aggressive goal for my administration - reducing the number of third-graders who fail the reading exam from 26,000 to 10,000 students by the year 2010. Achieving this goal would benefit not only the individual students, but it will make our system of public education more efficient, benefiting Virginia as a whole.

Every year, 10,000 students between kindergarten and the 3rd grade have to repeat the school year. It cost taxpayers $8,000 for every repeater, for a total of roughly $80 million dollars a year. That amount nearly doubles what we spend every year on the Virginia Preschool Initiative, which uses state money to serve at-risk four-year-olds, not served by Head Start. For the benefit of individual students, and the efficiency of our education system, it just makes more sense to spend educational dollars better preparing young students to learn than to repeat a grade.

This takes me back to an old saying that a friend taught me, "It's easier to build a child than it is to repair a man."

So how can we do that? How can we help better build our children? How can we help them better prepare to learn and be reading at or above grade level by the third grade?

One of the ways we can do it is by expanding access to high-quality Pre-K - a key priority for my administration. We know so much more now than we did just a decade ago about how a person's brain develops. 90% of our brain is developed by the age of five, yet Virginia's education system really doesn't begin until after that.
As I've asked school administrators across Virginia what's the one thing the state can do to improve education, the vast majority - without hesitation - said the same thing: expand Pre-K. K-12 school officials aren't alone. University administrators tell me that they support early childhood education because they believe that higher quality early learning will result in a higher caliber of students in their institutions of higher learning.

Corporate executives tell me that they support investments in early childhood education because they will benefit from a greater pool of educated, critical thinkers for their work force, a necessity to meet increasing global competition. Law enforcement officers say they support early childhood education because they see the strong correlation between successful students, productive citizens, and decreased crime in our communities. And economists - from different persuasions and backgrounds - say expanding access to high-quality Pre-K carries with it the best return on the dollar of just about any educational reform you can make. Some studies have the return on investment at a ratio as high as 17 to one. 1

In Virginia, we currently spend four times as much on remediation efforts as we do for Pre-K. We should reverse that ratio. By cutting in half the number of children who have to repeat a grade, we could double what we spend on existing Pre-K programs.

The question isn't whether we're going to spend the money, but when to spend it best. The two-year budget we just adopted in Virginia makes important strides for early childhood education. We increased by $10 million per year the amount of money we are spending on preschool for at-risk four-year-olds. We are funding for the first time the Early Childhood Foundation to encourage the active involvement of private partners in this effort and to craft community-based solutions. 2
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We must go further. The Virginia Preschool Initiative serves 17,000 at-risk students and Head Start serves 14,000 with high-quality Pre-K schooling. We know that there are at least an additional 11,000 at-risk students who aren't served by either program. And while there are more four-year-olds attending private Pre-K, it's easy to see a large gap of youngsters who simply don't have access to this important early education opportunity.

To close that opportunity gap, I have started pursuing the Start Strong Pre-K initiative in Virginia. I started by establishing the Start Strong Council, a working group made up of educational experts, legislators, teachers, and other key educational stakeholders. Its purpose is to oversee the development of a framework for voluntary early childhood education programs in every part of the state.

The Start Strong Council will do that by recommending ways to expand the successful Virginia Preschool Initiative, work with Head Start providers, and build on the established network of high-quality private and faith-based providers. This is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Start Strong programs will be locally driven and designed to meet local needs.

We hope to benefit from the wisdom and experience of Pre-K providers, public and private. As we move forward we want private, VPI and Head Start providers to be at the table and part of the process. We don't want the dollars going to bricks and mortar; we want them used for educating kids. In fact, some private providers have more experience and expertise than some public programs. Our Start Strong programs will be an opportunity, not a mandate. Four-year-olds will not be required to participate, but every child that wants to take part should have that opportunity.

Considering how much more we understand now about brain development and the life-long benefits of early education, pursuing universal access to high-quality Pre-K is the best opportunity we have today to help our children succeed tomorrow.

I will conclude much the way I began. When it comes to public education, Virginia has a lot to be proud of. But our pride, our sense of competitiveness and our obligation to our children demands that we never stop finding ways to improve it.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that progress depends on the broadest possible diffusion of knowledge among the entire population. We are now in a better position than ever before to provide all children with the opportunity to learn and fulfill their God-given potential. My administration's key priority is ensuring that lifelong learning that begins with a high-quality Pre-K education is our top priority in Virginia.

Thank you.

http://www.governor.virginia.gov/MediaRelations/Speeches/2006/NewAmericaFoundation.cfm