Providing all children with the opportunities and resources to succeed is one of United Way's fundamental goals. One initiative proven to make a difference is early childhood education.

Not only does it make a difference, its results can be measured and tracked, providing a surefire return on investment — the thing we need in today's shaky economy. High-quality early learning can help enhance a child's school readiness.

Yet all across Pennsylvania, including right here in central Pennsylvania, investments in pre-kindergarten and other high-quality early learning programs are down. Dauphin County lost traction in providing access to public pre-kindergarten the last few years.

In 2009, 22 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds were served in publicly funded preschool programs while this year it dipped to 18.5 percent. In Cumberland County, the number of children living in low-income families has grown from 26 percent to nearly 30 percent. Meanwhile, Perry County experienced a growth of uninsured children.

Poverty, lack of health coverage and health care, plus no access to early learning opportunities all contribute to the possibility a child will start school already behind his or her peers. And children who start behind often stay behind.

But that’s where high-quality early education can play such a vital role in helping kids catch up, or, making sure they never fall behind in the first place. In tough economic times, education is an easy target for budget cuts, but nothing could be more short-sighted.

Children who attend high-quality pre-K programs enter kindergarten with better language, reading, math and social skills. They have fewer grade retentions, less remediation, higher standardized test scores and higher graduation rates.

More and more research shows the importance of high-quality early learning experiences as not only getting a child started off well in school, but increasing the odds for that child’s success throughout his or her entire academic career — and work life as well. Results for children enrolled in pre-kindergarten through PA Pre-K Counts classes show significant gains.

At the end of the 2008-09 school year, nearly 75 percent of children who attended Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts finished the school year with age-appropriate proficiency in literacy, numeracy and social skills.

Of those children who participated in Pre-K Counts in 2007-08, a smaller percentage required early intervention services in kindergarten than among the total kindergarten.

The success of these programs in aiding the academic achievements of children and providing a substantial return on investment for taxpayers is well documented. Unfortunately, so is the lack of access to these programs for so many of our youngest citizens. 

A waiting list of more than 12,000 for subsidized child care to help low-income working parents pay for child care costs? Not acceptable.
Will our next governor make early learning a priority in his agenda?
Will he be committed to helping to create a strong foundation for all children?

I urge you to join United Way and nearly 1,400 other individuals and organizations by endorsing First Steps Pennsylvania (www.firststepspa.org). It's a new campaign designed to encourage our next governor (Dan Onorato or Tom Corbett) to make investing in early childhood education a priority.

Our next governor will have many tough decisions to make. But one decision should be fairly simple: Early education is a sound investment that reaps rewards for a lifetime. It's time to recommit to our kids.

Jeannine D. Peterson is board chair of the United Way of the Capital Region.

This is why I, along with more than 1,200 other individuals and organizations, have joined a new, diverse statewide coalition called First Steps Pennsylvania, to encourage our next governor to make investing in early childhood education a priority.

More and more research shows the importance of high-quality, early learning experiences as not only getting a child started off well in school but also increasing the odds for that child's success throughout his or her entire academic career — and work life as well.

Results for children enrolled in pre-kindergarten through Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts classes show significant gains: At the end of the 2008-2009 school year, nearly 75 percent of children who attended Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts finished with age-appropriate proficiency in literacy, numeracy and social skills. Of those children who participated in Pre-K Counts in 2007-2008, a smaller percentage required early intervention services in kindergarten than among the total kindergarten population.

High-risk 4-year-olds in Allegheny County, who had access to publicly funded pre-K, showed special education and grade retention rates of 1 percent and 2 percent respectively, in districts where other students were referred for special education and retained at rates of 21 percent and 23 percent.
Across the country there's a host of research that mirrors the gains achieved from kids who attend high-quality pre-K programs:

• Children who attend high-quality, pre-K programs enter kindergarten with better language, reading, math and social skills. They have fewer grade retentions, less remediation, higher standardized test scores and higher graduation rates.
• Recent analysis of the Perry Pre-School Program in Michigan shows each dollar invested returned $16 in crime, education and welfare savings, higher earnings and taxes paid, as students are more likely to succeed in school, stay out of trouble with the law, graduate and get better jobs.

All of this is good news for our children and our state, which has made great strides in providing high-quality child care and pre-K over the past eight years.

However, the stark reality is that high-quality child care and publicly funded pre-kindergarten is not available to most children in our state — or right here in the Lehigh Valley.

In Lehigh County, only 14 percent of at-risk 3- and 4-year-old children have access to public pre-kindergarten; that figure drops to 8 percent for kids in Northampton County. And as far as child care is concerned, just 3.5 percent of child care providers in Lehigh are considered high-quality, as measured by accreditation by national child care associations or Keystone Stars, the state's quality improvement system.

The success of these programs in aiding the academic achievements of children and providing a substantial return on investment for taxpayers is well documented. Unfortunately, so is the lack of access to these programs for so many of our youngest citizens.

I urge all voters to visit our website, firststepspa.org, to learn more about the importance of these early childhood education programs.

There are many important questions we must ask the people who want to be our state's next governor. Ultimately, voters must determine which candidate is more committed to prudent investment of our limited tax dollars in proven programs that benefit our children in school today and our communities and future workforce tomorrow.

Early education is a sound investment that reaps rewards for a lifetime.

Terry Thomas of Bath is president of the board of directors for Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children and is an early childhood education adjunct faculty member at Lehigh Carbon Community College.

State and national reports published in the past few weeks reveal distressing facts about the plight of children everywhere. New Census figures show an increase in poverty across the country while data from Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children corroborates that the number of children living in low-income families in the commonwealth grew this past year to nearly 40 percent of children birth to age 5.Their parents are struggling to put food on the table and a roof over their heads while facing fewer work hours and even unemployment. Children who live in low-income families are likely to have poor nutrition, chronic health problems, and fewer educational opportunities, causing them to be less prepared for school.

School readiness means more than just having the right school supplies. It's about a child's social, emotional and cognitive development and the ability to hit the ground running when kindergarten starts.

High-quality early learning can help enhance a child's school readiness and yet, all across Pennsylvania, including right here in York County, investments in pre-kindergarten and other high-quality early learning programs are down.

York County lost a little traction in providing access to public pre-kindergarten. In 2009, 8.1 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds were served in publicly funded preschool programs while this year it slipped slightly to 7.8 percent. While not a huge deficit, we should be growing this early learning investment, not diminishing access.

The county also lost ground in the availability of child care subsidy offered to low-income working parents. Due to a loss of resources, there were 170 fewer slots in the child care subsidy program this year resulting in almost 240 children unable to receive subsidized child care. (Part-time children can share one full-time slot.)

Subsidized child care helps keep low-income parents working so they don't have to make the difficult decision in choosing between employment and child care. The number of children statewide on the subsidy waiting list is now more than 12,000.

As Pennsylvania prepares for a new governor, two key issues confront our state: making sure our children are ready to compete in a global economy and seeing that every tax dollar invested in an austere budget produces significant returns.

This is why I, along with nearly 1,400 other individuals and organizations, have joined a new, diverse statewide coalition called First Steps Pennsylvania (www.firststepspa.org), to encourage our next governor to make investing in early childhood education a priority.

More and more research shows the importance of high-quality early learning experiences as not only getting a child started off well in school, but increasing the odds for that child's success throughout his or her entire academic career -- and work life as well.

Results for children enrolled in pre-kindergarten through PA Pre-K Counts classes show significant gains. At the end of the 2008-2009 school year, nearly 75 percent of children who attended Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts finished the school year with age-appropriate proficiency in literacy, numeracy and social skills. Of those children who participated in Pre-K Counts in 2007-2008, a smaller percentage required Early Intervention services in kindergarten than among the total kindergarten.

Children who attend high-quality pre-K programs enter kindergarten with better language, reading, math and social skills. They have fewer grade retentions, less remediation, higher standardized test scores, and higher graduation rates.

Recent analysis of the Perry Pre-School Program in Michigan shows each dollar invested returned $16 in crime, education and welfare savings, higher earnings and taxes paid, as students are more likely to succeed in school, stay out of trouble with the law, graduate and get better jobs.

The success of these programs in aiding the academic achievements of children and providing a substantial return on investment for taxpayers is well documented.

Unfortunately, so is the lack of access to these programs for so many of our youngest citizens.

Will our next governor make early learning a priority in his agenda? Will he be committed to helping to create a strong foundation for all children?

Our next governor will have lots of tough decisions to make, though one decision should be fairly simple: Early education is a sound investment that reaps rewards for a lifetime.

At the beginning of MSNBC's weeklong Education Nation summit, educators deliberated the state of American education and the many challenges affecting the nation's schools.There was lots of hand-clapping and plenty of "Amen" moments as the teachers, gathered from schools across the country, stepped to the microphones, offering insights into our classrooms and proposing solutions reforming the way we educate our children.

But amid the talk of greater teacher accountability, charter schools and teachers unions, the meeting's biggest wave of applause was provoked by a comment from Art Costa, a Connecticut middle-school teacher who suggested that President Obama "flood the country with early-childhood education money."

Even if they've never seen the statistics touting its benefits, America's teachers understand the value and importance of high-quality early-childhood education programs - they live the results every school day.

Research confirms the benefits of children attending these programs. Upon entering kindergarten, they have better language, reading, math and social skills.

They also have higher scores on standardized tests and higher graduation rates, and fewer grade retentions and less remediation.

Early-childhood education helps parents, too.

Access to high-quality child care translates into higher earnings and more job stability for employees, both single- and two-parent working families. And common sense tells us that a parent who is worried about his or her child during the workday is going to be distracted and experience higher rates of absenteeism.

In the five-county Philadelphia region, just 17 percent (1 in 6) of 3- and 4-year olds were enrolled in publicly funded pre-kindergarten in 2009.

Only 2 percent of children from birth to age 5 in this region have access to high-quality child care, according to the state's Keystone STARS system for rating quality child care.

Lyndon Johnson, the only 20th century president who was a teacher, recognized the importance of education before embarking on a career in politics.

Haunted by the "first lessons in poverty" he saw in his native Texas, Johnson created the Head Start program.

WHEN HE returned to that same elementary school some 38 years later, extolling the new reading, health and child-nutrition programs ushered in as a result of the legislation he championed, Johnson told the students, "If your education falters or fails, everything else that we attempt as a nation will fail. If you fail, America will fail."

From Johnson's vision in 1965 to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge's foresight in appointing a business commission that supported early-childhood education in the 1990s, we've come a long way.

State budgets are strained across the country, which is why tax money must be spent judiciously if Pennsylvania is to compete in today's global economy that demands a skilled workforce. There are few areas better than early-childhood education to prepare our kids for this challenge. That's why I'm participating in First Steps PA, a nonpartisan statewide effort to encourage voters to support candidates who will make high quality early-childhood education a priority.

As voters go to the polls next month to choose the next governor, I hope they'll join this effort by voting for candidates who place the future of our kids at the top of their agendas.

Like Art Costa, President Johnson would be the first to tell him - and us - that we cannot neglect the education of our nation's children.

Christie Balka is director of child-care and budget policy for Public Citizens for Children and Youth (www.pccy.org).

In a year where talk of jobs and the economy are taking center stage in almost every campaign, a coalition of folks from all walks of life have banded together to get the candidates talking about another important issue: kids.

First Steps PA was formed this summer to get the gubernatorial candidates to focus on early childhood education, and its impact not just on kids' future, but on the very things that are grabbing all the headlines this year: jobs and the economy.

The group includes seniors, education and public safety advocates as well as backers of the military, and has launched an aggressive voter registration and education drive across the state.

 "A lot of us have worked together on advocacy issues for children and families for a long time," said Terry Casey, president of the Pennsylvania Child Care Association, which represents about 2,000 regulated child care centers across the state. "But this year, we knew there was going to be a change in the administration, and we wanted to raise the visibility of our issues."

In terms of numbers, First Steps PA has some muscle: The more than 1,375 groups that make up the First Steps PA Campaign employ more than 29,000 staff and work with nearly 346,000 parents. That could translate into quite a few votes for either Republican Tom Corbett or Democrat Dan Onorato (First Steps PA is not endorsing a specific candidate).

And their argument is simple: with all the talk about being careful where dwindling tax dollars are spent, it is wiser to invest in kids at the beginning of their lives rather than pay higher social costs throughout a lifetime, including welfare and prisons costs and lost revenue through reduced consumer spending and fewer taxes.

"Our goal is to make sure the candidates know how important early learning is, how important it is to have parents be part of the process and how important it is to maintain existing programs, like pre-K," said Casey. "Because, sometimes, we get so busy with life that we forget what is important."

With last day to register to vote -- October 4 -- just around the corner, September is a great time to get children and parents excited about voting in this year’s election.

Take a look at the quick and easy projects below and see how easy it is to get your child care program’s children and families interested and engaged in voting.

Have ideas that worked in your classroom? Join the conversation and share your thoughts on what resonates with children and parents in the comments section below.

We will continue to post shared ideas throughout the month. More ideas are available.

Engaging Children

• Incorporate books on voting and elections into the classroom rotation.
• Have children carry home voter registration forms, articles and information to families about voting.
• Have children make their own voter registration cards. Ask them to take a picture of their cards with their families’ voter registration cards and hang photos in the classroom.
• On Election Day, take children on a field trip to a local polling location. 

Engaging Families

• Provide a voter registration form and assistance with filling it out to families when they are enrolling their children.
• Send out an email alert reminding parents to vote on Election Day and get out the vote activities.
• Provide families extra time to vote on Election Day by staying open later.
• Have parents vote on snacks (i.e. Ice Cream vs. Pizza). Offer the winning snack at a parent social where families are registered to vote and can participate in a discussion on election issues.

Organizations – Endorse the Campaign

Click here if you are authorized to join as an organization.

Individuals – Join the Campaign

Click here if you unable to join as an organization but want to participate as an individual.

The First Steps PA campaign, found at www.firststepspa.org, is the largest voter education and registration effort of its kind ever launched in Pennsylvania. The coalition includes more than 1,200 members representing approximately 22,000 professional staff who provide service each day to more than 200,000 children across the state. More than 300,000 parents are relying on them each day to assure their children are well cared for and have the opportunity to learn, grow and develop.

"The candidates as well as voters need to understand how important a strong and well-funded early childhood education system is to our students and to our state's long-term success," said Joan L. Benso, President and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC), one of the organizations supporting First Steps PA. "We've made great strides in the Commonwealth during the last eight years and we cannot afford to stop now. The breadth and depth of this coalition reflects that progress – and the need to keep moving forward."

Benso noted the array of supporting organizations behind the effort, including virtually every leading early childhood education group in Pennsylvania, as well as the military-oriented Mission: Readiness, Pennsylvania Seniors 4Kids, and the United Way.

"The research is there. When you invest and invest wisely, the dividends are enormous, for children, for their families, and for the Commonwealth," said Terry Casey, President, PA Child Care Association.

Studies demonstrate that children enrolled in high-quality child care experience fewer grade retentions and have better math and reading scores in the critical elementary school years. Children who are engaged in high-quality early learning programs need less remedial help and special education services, are less likely to need welfare, get better paying jobs and pay more taxes, and are even less likely as adolescents to get in trouble with the law.

"The goal of First Steps PA is to make early childhood education a priority issue for the next state administration. We are not going go permit the Commonwealth to slip backward," said Jodi Askins, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children (PennAEYC).

First Steps Pennsylvania Steering Committee members include:

Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children

Education Voters of Pennsylvania

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids

Mission: Readiness Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children

Pennsylvania Child Care Association

Pennsylvania Head Start Association

Pennsylvania Home-based Child Care Providers Association

Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children

Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children

Public Citizens for Children and Youth

Seniors4Kids -- Pennsylvania

United Way of Pennsylvania

The campaign will engage in a sustained, aggressive voter registration, education and "Get Out The Vote" effort across Pennsylvania.

"In these lean economic times, it makes sense to fund initiatives which produce a strong return on investment in our communities," said Christie Balka, Director of Child Care and Budget Policy, Public Citizens for Children and Youth. "These programs enhance a child's school readiness, help him do better when he gets to school, and help keep working parents working."

By highlighting the success of Pennsylvania's early learning programs and how these benefit all Pennsylvanians, the First Steps PA campaign will ensure gubernatorial candidates keep funding for these programs a priority, and voters keep this as a key issue as they make their decision in the voting booth in November.