Parents, educators, community members, and legislators met recently at the Lake County Community Forum in Mundelein to discuss the value and impact of early childhood programs and services on the more than 61,000 children from birth-to-five in Lake County.
One of the strong messages expressed at the forum, organized by the Early Childhood Advocates Alliance of Lake County, was the principle that early childhood education has positive, long-lasting effects throughout later academic life.
Kathy Ryg, President, Voices for Illinois Children and former State Representative gave an outstanding presentation on the recently released Kids Count report, “Great at Eight”. The report suggests that a broader concept of early education – one that encompasses children’s health, educational opportunities and family economic security in the first eight years – increases future success in school and beyond.
Jean Wallace-Baker, Executive Director of Highland Park Community Nursery School and Day Care Center, spoke about the importance of high quality care, which was demonstrated effectively through a slide presentation by Darcy Fitzsimmons, a teacher at the center.
Mundelein Police Chief Ray Rose emphasized what statistics have shown: for every dollar invested in high quality early childhood education programs, we save $7 to $14 on reduced costs in special education, remedial classes and prison terms. According to Chief Rose, we must “Invest in the playpen, not in the State Pen.”
“Illinois’ greatest assets are our children and our families,” said State Senator Susan Garrett. “We will continue as a legislative body to invest in schools, early childcare programs, and after school programs.” Garrett did, however, acknowledge potential funding problems brought on by the state budget situation. “The state is trying to get a handle on how we can spend taxpayers’ money as effectively and efficiently as possible,” said Garrett in speaking about the ‘performance-based budgeting’ climate in Springfield currently.
Speakers at the forum stressed that strategic investments in programs, such as quality early childhood education, with proven effectiveness will yield long term benefits not only to children and their families, but the community as a whole.
