Guest Author
Ask just about any Floridian who the “education governor” was, and it’s a good bet many of them would offer the same name: Jeb Bush.
Whether you think for better or for worse, it is difficult to argue that as governor, Bush tied his legacy in large part to education reforms in Florida. Democrats, Republicans, independents would all agree: he was a strong proponent of standardized testing, charter schools, vouchers, and distance learning.
In 2014, there is an opportunity to elect a new “education governor”. Much of it stems from what we’ve learned since Bush was in office. It is less about rejecting Bush’s education reforms. It has much more to do with the ideas about what works in education, and what has changed.
Today, we know the smart money is on what’s called “early learning” — educating children from birth to age 5. Educating children before they enter school seems like common sense, but it is a relatively new concept.
Leading the conversation about investing resources in the youngest children is James Heckman, a Nobel Laureate economist and the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago.
His groundbreaking case for investing in disadvantaged young children says that you get more return on investment if you invest in quality programs targeting the earliest years of a child’s life, rather than schooling, post-schooling, and job training programs so popular today.
Heckman has found some success in making his case in part because it is an economic one — meaning, it is one that politicians and other community leaders understand.
But he also ties it to those ideas that are still politically popular. For example, he notes that investing in early childhood education would improve high school graduation rates and boost Florida’s economy.
He notes that a 5 percent “increase in male high school graduation rates is estimated to save Florida $332 million,” by reducing the prison population and the cost of social programs. Societal costs from just one year of high school dropouts are estimated at $26 billion.
In Pinellas County, the Juvenile Welfare Board was ahead of the curve on early learning. Local numbers outpace even Heckman’s.
A per-child investment of just $6,692 in quality pre-kindergarten education for disadvantaged children yielded a lifetime societal return of up to $67,937 — a return on investment of greater than 10 to 1.
To put this idea into practice, they have launched three new early education centers, in partnership with the United Methodist Cooperative Ministries/Suncoast. With 45 percent of children in subsidized child-care in Pinellas County entering kindergarten not ready to learn, they had little choice.
This should be a campaign issue in 2014.
In Florida, 6,238 pre-kindergarten providers serve 71 percent of all 4-year-olds, yet the state only meets 4 of 10 national standards of excellence for high-quality pre-kindergarten programs.
If 100 children at the end of first grade are poor readers, then 88 of those children remain poor readers by the end of fourth grade. We’re just not getting the job done.
Gov. Rick Scott has billed himself as the “jobs governor.” Given the slow pace of recovery nationwide, that’s not likely to change.
Challengers to Scott might do well to take up the cause of the youngest Floridians. Who knows — perhaps one of them might become the new “education governor.”
