Gov. Markell seeks $11.3 million for early education
Of the more than $4.1 billion Gov. Jack Markell has proposed state government spend next year, it is clear that the $11.3 million he wants for pre-kindergarten education is among the most important to him.
The case for early learning is rooted in research that suggests much of the human brain develops before kids are even old enough to enter kindergarten. Children who don't pick up important skills at those early ages are at a huge disadvantage by the time they start school.
"I'm not going to be the governor who talks about all the additional progress we will make in the next few years, but that doesn't matter. This is a movement," Markell, who is in his last year in office, said in a speech Wednesday. "Our job is to make sure that all of the legislators and the next administration appreciate the progress we've made."
Delaware has poured millions of dollars over the past few years into efforts to get more kids, especially those from at-risk families, into good early learning centers. And Markell frequently argues the state has gotten results, going from only 5 percent of low-income kids enrolled in a highly-rated preschool program to 59 percent this year.
Much of the money for those programs came from a big federal grant that expired this year, however. That means state government needs to "put its money where its mouth is" and pick up the tab with its own money if the programs are going to continue.
"Either we can pay lip service to the necessity for investment or we can make it real," Markell said.
Markell found a crowd of supporters for his early education push at the annual Governor's Birth to 8 Summit Wednesday. Most of the members of the audience were early educators, but there were plenty of others too: lawmakers, business leaders, health care officials, even Commissioner of Correction Robert Coupe, who oversees the state's prison system.
"I think this is one of the keys to addressing crime issues," Coupe said.
Coupe points out that the social and emotional traits early learning helps kids develop — good impulse control and better social skills — are the traits many who end up in the prison system lack.
Asking the General Assembly, which actually writes the state's budget, to pick up the tab for expired federal grants is no sure thing. Last year, Markell sought $7.5 million to continue programs from the federal Race to the Top grant that paid for programs in K-12 schools, but lawmakers slashed that by half, saying too much of the grant went to the state bureaucracy and not enough went to classrooms.
Early childhood advocates hope they've impressed upon legislators the importance of their work.
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"I think you see broad support for early learning, and not just among educators," said Susan Perry-Manning, executive director of the state's office of Early Learning.
Should lawmakers approve the $11 million, what would it buy?
The two biggest items, Manning says, are reimbursements from the state that pay for highly rated preschool programs to take on families who couldn't otherwise afford them and money for coaches to visit centers and help them improve.
But the funding would also support college scholarships to help preschool workers get better educated about how young minds develop and screenings to help figure out whether students have disabilities, mental health issues or other things that could affect their learning.
Wednesday's summit featured talks by national experts, many of whom said Delaware is on the cutting edge of early education.
"I was quite amazed at everything this state has done in the early care and education field," said Linda Smith, deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "I would say you are a model for the rest of the nation in terms of what you have accomplished as a state."
Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_mallbright.