Obama’s Plans – Yes We Can!

November 17, 2008

As we welcome a new leader in Washington, there is a sense of renewed hope and excitement throughout our nation. A great deal is being expected of President-elect Obama, and I think he will do well for us. Like any successful politician, Mr. Obama had to make a number of promises in order to get elected, and it is up to the American people to see that those promises are kept. Two areas in particular I will be watching closely are early education and early child care.

Scientists tell us that that by age 3 the human brain grows to about 80 percent of its adult size, 90 percent by age 5. This window is a period of tremendous learning potential, but only if the child has the right educational resources. There is a critical a shortage of early child-care centers, and funding for early child care was cut by $14 million in 2008. Children under 4 are not covered by the 2002 amendment that entitles 4-year-olds to a year of free preschool. Not only that, space at day-care centers specializing in infant care is vanishing because providers can make more money taking care of older children who require less staffing per child.

Statewide, nearly 60,000 children are on waiting lists for subsidized child care, 6,500 of them in Palm Beach County. Of these, 60 percent are age 4 or younger, a threefold increase since 2003. In Palm Beach County, parents concerned about their children’s after-school care miss an average of five extra days of work per year. This is estimated to cost employers anywhere from $500 to $2,000 per employee, per year. Currently, 8,914 children of working poor families are in subsidized child care with nearly as many on a waiting list; 2,200 of them have been waiting for up to two years.

President-elect Obama’s comprehensive “zero to five” plan is aimed at providing critical support to young children and their parents. It places emphasis on early care and education for infants, which is essential for children to be ready to enter kindergarten. A new federal funding source, the Early Learning Challenge Grant, will be offered to promote “zero to five” efforts in Florida, hopefully accelerating a move toward voluntary, universal preschool. Obama has promised to quadruple federal funding for the Early Head Start program, increase funding for Head Start, and improve the quality of both. We should also soon see more federal funding for affordable high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families.

Obama has promised to reform No Child Left Behind, and throughout the campaign we heard the phrase “recruit, prepare, retain and reward America’s teachers.” I’d like to see the Palm Beach County School District actively pursue Teacher Service Scholarships when they become available. These will pay for four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits, in exchange for teaching at least four years in a high-need field, such as bioscience.

Let’s participate in voluntary national performance assessments to ensure that every new teacher is fully prepared to enter the classroom. New teacher residency programs are expected to supply 30,000 exceptionally well prepared recruits to high-need schools. Mentoring programs that match experienced teachers with new recruits will be expanded, and additional federal funds may be available to reward teachers who work in underserved places such as the Glades and some of our inner cities.

It’s pretty clear our new president has some big challenges ahead, but I’m very optimistic that things will be better four years from now. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions. Please feel free to contact me or my staff at 355-2202.