Friday, November 03, 2006
An interesting article in the Minneapolis Tribune...
Maybe things are changing with the public perception of the importance of school readiness. Now if we could just get the government to get on board...Business leaders buying into the idea of preschool programs' value
Neal St. Anthony, Star Tribune
Business is poised to become an advocate for improved early childhood education, building on a Federal Reserve study that showed a return of 16 percent annually on every dollar invested.Al Stroucken, the CEO of H.B. Fuller, is in his third year of advocating for more business and public support for effective preschool programs. As he prepares to convene the third annual Minnesota Business Forum on School Readiness, at General Mills on Oct. 27, he's confident that business people and politicians are starting to get the idea.
"We're clearly making a transition from talking about the importance of early childhood education to fixing the problems," Stroucken said this week. "We've had fairly good success in raising the awareness level and making sure that business understands this is a business as well as a societal issue. I think there's a basic understanding from the political parties that this is something that needs to be addressed."
In a nutshell, a business task force headed by Stroucken got underway in 2003 after reviewing a study by Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank researchers. The study found that money invested in early-age education for needy kids returns 16 percent annually to taxpayers in terms of lower special-education costs, crime and social-service expenses.
That's because kids who aren't ready for kindergarten tend to drop out of high school and get in trouble a lot more often than kids who succeed in school, get jobs and pay taxes.
Minnesotans spend about $1.5 billion on day-care and preschool programs. State and federal governments spend about $300 million on Head Start and day-care subsidies for working poor families in the state. But state funding was curbed during the 2003-05 time period because of budget deficits.
It's estimated that a third to half of Minnesota kids aren't ready for kindergarten.
Stroucken, Cargill executive Rob Johnson and other business leaders produced a compelling report in 2004, then formed Minnesota Business for Early Learning, a 200-member organization of executives and organizations focused on the role of business in school-readiness. In response, the Legislature created the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation in 2005. The foundation is researching the most cost-effective early learning
programs for the families who need it most but can't afford it. The board includes CEOs from Cargill, Best Buy, Blue Cross and Blue Shield and leaders of the Twin Cities United Way and the Minnesota Business Partnership.The Legislature restored some funding to early learning and family-education programs for the working poor this year. The day-care and early learning lobby will be after more in the upcoming session. There may be some business lobbying.
The United Way, chaired this year by Stroucken, is shifting and increasing funding to early learning to the tune of about $60 million. More information on the Oct. 27 conference, expected to include representatives of the gubernatorial candidates, is at www.mnbel.org.
