Leaders told more focus needed on early childhood education

Early childhood education is one of the most important investments a community can make in its future and one of the things getting underfunded by the state legislature, said Bill Millett.

Millett is the president of the Charlotte-based Scope View Strategic Advantage and an advisor on the economic benefits of early childhood education. He spoke to Catawba County education and business leaders Wednesday about how critical it was that something be done to educate children at a young age.

“Our acknowledgement of early education is crucial,” said Millett. “We have a whipping boy: bad teachers. We say, ‘if we could just get rid of the bad teachers.’ It’s not just teachers. It’s the lack of parental responsibility, as well. There’s only so much teachers can do.”

He acknowledged there are some bad teachers in schools, but there are many more good ones, and children are only in schools for about eight hours a day. Millett said the problems with children’s education often start before kids even enter a school system.

People are born with 130 billion cells in their brains — the number of stars in the Milky Way, Millett said. Children form tens of millions of connections a day when they’re young. Those connections develop differently when a child is nurtured.

“Children with cognitive development are arrested less, own property and generate revenue,” he said. “Those who did not are consuming tax dollars. They have a higher rate of divorce and end up in jail more often. Some investments are so important.”

The United States ’ lack of investment has been showing over the last few years. Citing figures from the Institute for a Competitive Workforce, Millett said the US ranks 25^th in math and 21^st in science in the world for 15-year-olds. Only 25 percent of 17- to 24-year-olds are qualified to serve in the military. The rest cannot meet the physical, behavioral or educational standards.

“We’re teaching American kids to memorize and vomit the information back out two months later,” Millett said, citing No Child Left Behind. “Other countries are teaching creativity and actual learning.”

He said if the US wanted to catch up to countries like Brazil , Finland and France , which are all outperforming us, parents and educators need to give problem-solving exercises to children as early as age 2. An example would be picking out which choice is the best option out of three.

Kim Salyards is the director for the Catawba County Partnership for Children. She discussed Smart Start — a public-private partnership — and More at Four, an educational program for at-risk preschoolers. She agreed with Millett about the importance of early childhood education. However, she said many in the county aren’t getting that education.

“Many kids who need childcare can’t get it,” she said. “It costs $120 per child per week on average. We have 100 people on the waiting list.”

People who can’t be served through the Smart Start program are referred to the Children’s Resource Center , which helps parents find other childcare options, Salyards said.

They saw their budget slashed significantly this year, she said. For the 2011-12 year, it is about $2.7 million. That is an almost $2 million drop from where it was 11 years ago, when it was about $4.5 million.

“More at Four served 355 children last year. It was created to find kids who are not prepared for kindergarten,” Salyards said. “After 10 years of building it, we had to cut it, and now have a 20 percent cut with only 284 kids. The rest will just have to remain unserved.”

Millett said he understands the state had to make budget cuts. But at a time when other states face similar budget crises, they didn’t make these choices.

“Other southern states gave education a higher priority,” Millett said. “If they did, surely we could. Why did education take such a heavy hit? Other states are using it against us. I know, I travel and I’m told by people in other states. As a taxpayer, I would urge (legislators) to give education a higher priority.”