The Political Will to
Improve Early Childhood Systems
I have
discovered that politics play an important role in the early childhood
education field. I noticed that President Obama has brought early childhood education to
the forefront by increasing funding for early learning programs. I noticed in
my state that if the governor is not for education they will cut the budget. I
notice in this election that education was the most important thing in the
voters in my state. The child care leaders in my state start a campaign call Pre- K for PA. This campaign wanted candidates running for
office to know the important of Pre- K program and the benefits of early
learning.
The part that appeals to me the most advocacy there is so
many causes that you can advocate for like funding early childhood education,
better pay for teachers and more quality childcare centers. I also feel that
networking it's also good when advocating you meet new people and they share
same views as to do and work together to fight a cause.
Raejean I all too well I felt the effects of State Governor's opinion of ECE. If that is not part of their agenda then funding will go for other programs. I was working in a program that received state funds. Our program funded Specialist going into child care centers and working with providers to improve their quality of care. Our state governor does not believe in child care and believes that the child’s place is at home with the mother. However this contradicts economic growth when mothers need to work to provide income to families. This also was disturbing to hear, because if these are single parent homes then where their income is supposed to come from? Hopefully people will take notice of the effects of their decisions in politics, not for the popularity but for the severity of the outcome of people’s lives!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am not a fan of when politics are mixed into the early childhood field but then again the politicians are the ones who advocate for the funding into this field. All families despite their zip codes are able to benefit from the educational child care resource and referrals that can be used for the parents as an educational guidance for growth and development. One of my many sayings "Low income does not mean low intelligence".
ReplyDeleteIt was exciting to see the focus the president put on early childhood education at the outset of his presidency. One of the facts that I learned in my research is that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included several billion dollars for state early childhood systems.
ReplyDeleteRB Fast