Sunday, when I started this blog, it was my intent to focus on a new study with the League of Women Voters’ Education Committee. I have been invited to chair this important committee. Why am I doing this at this point in my life? Why aren’t I just hanging out? I never learned how to just hang out. I guess I truly believe and live Marian’s philosophy as quoted.
“I guess If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much.”
Marian Wright Edelman
But, the more I read and listened about the carnage of Newtown, the more I was pulled back into the value of education and what it means to us in this democracy we live. How integrated these two subjects are to me.
Here I am, sitting in my peaceful and calm Camelot and trying to digest the horrors of this past week.
“I'm sure I am impatient sometimes. I sure do get angry sometimes. I think it's outrageous how hard it is to get this country to feed its children and to take care of its children, to give them a decent education.”
Marian Wright Edelman
Indiana’s Governor Pence said he wants a new study to focus on schools, not the state’s guns laws. When pressed, he said he supports the rights of law-abiding Hoosiers to keep and bear arms and will “defend that right.” There you go - one huge reason I left Indiana with a smile. I enjoyed working for Governor Evan Bayh who would have had a totally different reaction and response to the tragedy. I called him to wish his family a happy holiday and I asked him. He confirmed my belief that he was and is a fine man - a man we needed to stay in the Senate - one of those unique politicians who always worked across the aisle and taught me the art of compromise and negotiation in the legislative process.
Evil walked tall last week in Connecticut, but evil should not be confused with what follows. You won’t see any pure evil in any room when legislators come down to hard choices over the budget for mental health programs in the next legislative session, but if you want to personify it, rest assured evil will be in the room keeping an eye on things. Most everyone will mean well and there will be valid arguments for spending more or less, but down the line somewhere one decision will have a little better or worse impact than another.
This coming January, funding for mental illness research and services, as well as housing programs are at risk of being subject to an across-the-board cut of as much as 8.4 percent. This “sequester” was put in place last year as part of the Budget Control Act. These critical federal investments in mental illness research, services, housing programs are all part of the “non-defense discretionary”.
Let’s pivot to education and the child. One of the major tasks that education must perform in a democratic society is the proper preparation of young citizens for the roles and responsibilities they must be ready to take on when they reach maturity.
Our committee will study what the current landscape is of early childhood development, education, and quality in our area. Our committee will start by researching the 3 A’s of early education. Availability, Affordability, and Accessibility. These were the words governing my work in Indiana for so many years. What goes around - comes around. I believe that ‘education is for democracy’. I also believe that high quality early childhood programs offer positive economic development. The following site offers good information on how early childhood development impacts economic development.
A Rolnick, R Grunewald - The Region, 2003 - datacenter.spps.org
Why Investments in Early Childhood Work?
The data show that the greatest challenges facing our country – from school dropout rates, to crime to rising health-care costs, to the necessity of competing in the global marketplace – can only be met by focusing on the development of all our children, beginning at birth.
To the Ounce of Prevention Fund, the "achievement gap" is not a metaphor. It is a social outcome that we can see and measure. Research shows that the achievement gap appears long before children reach kindergarten – in fact is can become evident as early as age nine months. And at-risk children who don't receive a high-quality early childhood education are:
• 25% more likely to drop out of school
• 40% more likely to become a teen parent
• 50% more likely to be placed in special education
• 60% more likely to never attend college
• 70% more likely to be arrested for a violent crime
I have always been drawn to the ways and needs and dreams of children. I started The Stein Group upon retirement from my place in Indiana government. As an analyst, I was responsible for the production of reports and more reports, most of which settled on government office shelves gathering that dust you always hear about. That always troubled me in that so much research, funds and time went into producing these reports. I wanted The Stein Group to bring
those reports and findings to life and develop policy for children.
I remember going to the Secretary of State’s office with my husband and signed the paperwork to start a corporation. There I was, now the president of a corporation. A nonprofit, independent children's research and policy organization. Those were great days.
Take a few minutes and click on my Children’s Issues blog. I started writing this blog while in Indiana government. The situations are the same - I hope the values are the same.
All these programs and policies will be evaluated and reviewed as we
start our study here in Palo Alto and surrounding communities. Please join us at this critical time for our children.
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