return to EEA in the News

State needs prequel to Ed Reform Act

Name the state official in charge of preparing young children for life.

Stumped?

Then name the official in your city or town responsible for teaching young children how to play fairly with other children and how to respond to adult authority before they reach the first grade.

Stumped again?

Despite evidence that children have much to learn before they reach school, not enough is being done to prepare them for education.

A bill to be heard in the next legislative session on Beacon Hill would make it possible for every child in Massachusetts to attend preschool and full-day kindergarten.

Call it the prequel to the Education Reform Act, a smashing success on its own.

Supporters say the state would have to spend $1 billion a year to expand preschool and full-day kindergarten to every city and town. It's worth it. If the state fails to invest in its youngest children, it will pay later in the form of an inferior labor pool, increased social costs and higher crime rates.

Some children are destined for academic failure without an early and solid start in education. Some children, particularly some children in urban communities such as Springfield and Holyoke, are at a greater risk of failure as a result of poverty, poor nutrition, neglect or abuse. Preschool and full-day kindergarten programs give these youngsters better prospects for success.

The Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation has championed this cause in Springfield through its Cherish Every Child Initiative to improve the lives of the city's youngest citizens - those just born through the age of 8.

Former House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran understands as well as anyone on Beacon Hill that academic success translates into success in the workplace and life in general. He pushed for legislation to expand early education programs.

It is time for the Legislature and the governor to reward those efforts.

Studies show that children who attend full-day kindergarten learn better, like school more and are more involved in class than children who do not attend full-day kindergarten.

And by the time these children graduate from high school, perhaps the state can also guarantee a college education for everyone who wants it.

return to top of page