Bond: Businesses Are Important Partners in Improving Education for Children

Press Release

Bond: Businesses Are Important Partners in Improving Education for Children

U.S. Senator Kit Bond today spoke to Columbia area early education providers, business leaders and participants in Missouri's Parents as Teachers program at the Columbia Early Childhood Education Summit to emphasize the importance of businesses as partners in improving education for children.

"The economy of the future - in truth, the economy of today - requires higher-level skills than the past," Bond said. "It's a competitiveness issue. We simply cannot compete in a global economy if our workers do not have the skills. Since so much of a worker's education occurs before he or she ever enters the workplace, businesses should be more involved in education at all levels."

The Senator praised First Chance for Children in Columbia and the Boone County Coordinating Board for Early Childhood Education for making the case that businesses and education can begin their partnership even earlier - before a child enters kindergarten. Bond highlighted programs in which businesses "adopt" local schools and business owners donate time to discuss entrepreneurship with high-school students but emphasized the importance of beginning this relationship at an even earlier age.

"It will take all of us - government, education, the private sector and parents - working together to ensure that the next generation leaves school ready to take part in the economy of the future," Bond said. "In order to leave school ready to participate, they must enter school ready to learn."

The Senator cautioned of the long-term implications the current economic downturn can have on the health of families and the future economy. In Missouri, nearly one in three children live in single-parent homes and almost one in five come from impoverished families. Bond stressed that these children cannot wait for the economy to turn around and that the government must invest now in high-quality early childhood education programs.

During his eight years as Missouri governor, Bond took the Parents as Teachers program statewide in Missouri and the program has now expanded to more than 3,000 programs in all 50 states as well as seven foreign countries. Research shows that children who participate in the Parents as Teachers program are better prepared to enter school and score higher on standardized tests than their peers who do not. Also, parents who participate are more likely to remain involved in their child's schooling. Earlier this year, Bond led a bipartisan group of Senators in reintroducing the Education Begins at Home Act which will expand home visitation programs like Parents as Teachers at the state and local levels.

Bond, one of the Senate's leading voices on children and family issues, is a strong supporter of Healthy Start and Head Start programs geared toward pregnant women and children in low-income families. He was a key negotiator in passing the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Act for Better Child Care and most recently joined a bipartisan group of Senators in supporting the Ready to Learn Act which will assist states in funding quality pre-kindergarten programs for 4-year olds.

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