Monday, February 05, 2007
Here is an article that comes from Minnestoa Public Radio talking about how our neighbor to the west is taking action to improve school readiness of the children in the state...
South Dakota makes preschool a form of economic development
by Cara Hetland, Minnesota Public Radio
Business leaders in South Dakota are taking an interesting approach to economic development. They're using money set aside for recruiting new businesses and investing it in preschool education. Studies show that every dollar spent on early education
saves seven dollars down the road, on potential welfare and incarceration costs.Ron Moquist's company, Raven Industries, makes everything from hot air balloons to army uniforms. His business is in downtown Sioux Falls and he knows what he looks for in employees. "The strong back has been replaced by the educated mind," he says.
Moquist is a self-proclaimed conservative who finds himself taking a rather liberal stance when it comes to business. He says there are more and more kids coming out of high school unprepared to enter the work force."They're being asked to do processes in our company, electronic processes that are very difficult and very sophisticated," Moquist says. "They're out of high school but our expectation about what they're supposed is very high. We need them to take math and science in high school."
Moquist says it's time to change the trend he's seeing by focusing on the formative years. "We know that the number one predictor of success in school is poverty," he says. "If you start from a poverty back ground you will have a difficult time in school. So what we said is that we've got to get to these kids sooner because so many of them are starting kindergarten 18 months behind their peers and most of them never catch up."
For the past three years Moquist lead a Chamber of Commerce committee that researched preschool programs in Sioux Falls.
The result is a three-year pilot program set to begin this fall. Over three years it'll cost nearly a $1.5 million to reach 240 kids. Republican Gov. Mike Rounds offered half of the money from his economic development fund. The other half is split between the United Way and Sioux Falls businesses.
Read the entire article...
