State-Funded Preschool is Good for Business

State-funded preschool is good for business

Letter to the Editor Published April 29, 2007

Accessible and affordable early-childhood education and day care is of great concern to working Vermonters and business owners. Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility supports H.534 as a means of supporting Vermont children and families.

Children, families and Vermont employers all benefit from the availability of well-designed early education programs.

In Vermont working families with young children constantly face the difficult task of balancing going to work and quality child care. Seventy percent of Vermont's 3- and 4-year-olds are in out-of-the-home child care for as much as 50 hours a week. This is caused by the fact that about 70 percent of all Vermont parents of children in this age group are in the workforce. Many of these workers are single parents.

Under H.534 children will be provided a nurturing learning environment, which will help to ensure that all children arrive at kindergarten able and ready to learn. Families are best served when high-quality preschool is available at a reasonable cost and at a location that is close to home or work. Employers will benefit when workers who are also parents feel that their children are in safe, happy and developmentally appropriate programs.

Under the provisions of H.534 parents will be able to select preschool programs that best serve the needs of their children. It is a new cooperative arrangement between public schools and private preschools that will serve communities and families.

The Preschool Study Committee led by Rep. Duncan Kilmartin, R-Newport, and the House Education Committee under the leadership of Rep. Janet Ancel, D-Calais, should both be applauded for their bipartisan efforts that brought all stakeholders to the table.

H.534 ensures that school districts will collaborate with private providers as they begin or expand programs for 3- and 4-year-olds. Community assessments and surveys of existing services will help to establish new programs that will be cost-effective.

Businesses, families and children need the continuation of quality preschool. Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility supports strong preschool programs as one tool to help promote economic development in our state.

Will Patten

Executive director

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility