蜜桃影视

What would happen if we prioritized children鈥檚 potential? That鈥檚 the question implicitly asked and explicitly answered in the recent paper .聽 Elise Gould, Marcy Whitebook, Zane Mokhiber and Lea J.E. Austin detail a proposal for funding California鈥檚 early care and education (ECE) system to an extent worthy of society鈥檚 claims to caring about the development of all children. It鈥檚 a joint effort of the (EPI) and the (CSCCE).

I spoke to Gould, senior economist with EPI, about Breaking the Silence and how its lessons go beyond the budget of one particular state. Here are a few takeaways from our conversation:

• California counts: The state accounts for and a slightly higher percentage of its young children. Gould notes that similar research is needed on other states and municipalities. EPI has collected .
• Day care is education: The authors consciously refer to daycare staff as 鈥渆ducators鈥� and 鈥渢eachers.鈥� Gould maintains that the profession is overdue for a raise. 鈥淔amilies complain that child care is expensive,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e saying maybe it鈥檚 not expensive enough. You鈥檝e got to pay for quality.鈥� In , she and two co-authors lament 鈥渙ur century-long tradition of separating 鈥榗are鈥� from 鈥榚ducation鈥� as if they are distinct activities that do not occur simultaneously.鈥�
• 鈥淓arly鈥� matters: We know that what we do to foster brain development at 12- to 24-months makes a greater difference in the long run than, say, the education of 11th and 12th graders. 鈥淚f we value school readiness and other benefits of ECE,鈥� Gould says. 鈥淟et鈥檚 put our money where our mouth is.鈥�
• The benefits of investing are far reaching: It鈥檚 good for the economic security of teachers, the educational and career futures of the children, and the right-now economy, too: Workers need a reliable, trusted place to send their children, but a found, 鈥淧roductivity problems cause employers to lose $12.7 billion annually due to child care challenges faced by their workforce.鈥�
• It鈥檚 about more than access: There is more than one way to fund ECE. According to the paper, “To the extent that greater public investment has been undertaken, it has focused primarily on increasing access for low-income children by expanding the subsidy system or by establishing public preschool. Increasingly, policymakers are also looking at how to make child care more affordable for families who do not currently qualify for subsidies.

Sen.Warren and Rep. Haaland recently introduced the . In , it scores points for acknowledging that 鈥渉igh-quality care is essential for social, emotional and mental development.鈥�

Think of it as a noteworthy variation on the championed by the Aspen Institute and others. On top of building solutions for children and their parents, philanthropic as well as government dollars might be devoted to supporting professionals who spend considerable hours with young children five days a week. , women (disproportionately women of color and immigrant women) make up 94% of the child care workforce. Of course, a great many of these women are mothers themselves.

When asked who鈥檚 getting child care right, Gould points to the U.S. military, which provides 12 weeks continuous paid maternity leave for all uniformed service members, provides for 12 hours of subsidized child care a day, and sets early childhood teachers鈥� salaries at a rate of pay equivalent to those of other Department of Defense employees with similar training, education, seniority and experience. (.)

Gould maintains that what she calls a 鈥渧alues-based budget鈥� would reflect the priorities that we as a society care about the most. This paper puts that principle into action.

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 蜜桃影视. Learn more here.