Busting the Achievement Gap

Is there anyone among us who doesn’t believe our children are our future, or that early childhood education is key a person’s future success in life?

Last week, I was invited to join the Gapbusters bus tour during its three-day, seven stop tour, from San Diego to Sacramento, to call on Gov. Brown to:

1. Commit to long-term investment in early learning and care programs by starting with the restoration of more than $1 billion that was cut from the system since the economic recession
2. Prioritize the recruitment and retention of quality child care providers by signing the Quality Family Child Care Act (AB641) which will help improve training and oversight of the state’s child care system.

If we don’t start today, we won’t be ready for tomorrow. Investing in early learning and care is—literally—investing in California’s future.

“California is a national leader when it comes to bold initiatives that have a lasting, positive impacts on our state,” said Assemblyman Anthony Rendon, author of the Quality Family Child Care Act, AB 641. “But where we have failed to lead  is on investment to early education and care despite it’s crucial role in preparing our kids for school so that they are successful and prepared to go to college. Therefore, I urge Governor Brown to continue his legacy of a strong education system by ensuring that our kids are set-up for success in school  by investing in early education.”

The author, Luisa Blue, left, with Assemblyman Anthony Rendon and other advocates

Thank you, Assemblyman Rendon for joining us in San Jose.

For photos and press releases related to the stops in San Jose and Bakersfield, I invite you to visit: www.seiu521.org or www.facebook.org/seiu521.

Here is what child care provider Lorena Wright said at the Feb. 19 press conference in San Jose: “When children are brought into our day care, we know each of them has the potential to grow up and do great things, we see future graduates, future astronauts, chefs, scientists and novelists. It’s now time for California leaders to join us and also see our children’s potential and invest in that potential!”

Our Union, SEIU Local 521, represents 55,000 men and women who work in the public and private, non-profit sector. From Social Workers to Home Care workers, we are committed to putting our Community First through quality services that keep our communities strong.

But we, as a state, are failing our children.

Let me share just a brief illustration of what we can do better. There are currently nearly 25,000 children – ages 0-13 – who are eligible for financial assistance for child care in Santa Clara county. These 25,000 kids are on a wait list.

For a child under three years old, the average wait list time in Santa Clara County is 1 to 1.5 years – even up to 2 years.

Working families need to know that their children are cared for when they go to work. A comprehensive early learning and care program is the best way to reduce missed shifts and sick days, and that’s good for both employers and working parents.

Right now, there is just one available licensed slot for every four children with working parents.  Our children deserve better than this. Investment in early learning is simply the smart move for California.

The achievement gap impacts lifelong educational performance and is directly linked to poverty, inequality and crime. Early childhood learning and care can help close that gap and even prevent it from opening in the first place. In fact, quality early childhood education, especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, has been shown to:

• Increase high school graduation by 31 percent[1]
• Increase college attendance by more than 80 percent[2]
• Increase employment by 23 percent.[3]
• Reduce the prison population by 13,000 and save the state government $1.1 billion every year.[4]

Today, children in California are condemned to the achievement gap and their bright futures dimmed based on the size of a parents’ paycheck. The Gapbusters aim to change that.

Thank you to all our elected and community leaders, parents and children, who helped make the Gapbusters tour such a fun success!

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