Corbett's Educational Opportunity

I ended my last post with… While a balanced budget presents a tremendous challenge, it also affords Governor Corbett an incredible opportunity to identify the core mission of state government and perhaps redefine the state’s roles. One area which offers the greatest challenges and perhaps the largest opportunity for long-term success is Education. Without a tax increase, funding public education at current levels will be very difficult, if not impossible. The ability of the Corbett administration to take a step back to assess Pennsylvania’s core education mission and its roles in helping to educate our children offers Mr. Corbett an opportunity to significantly transform education in the Keystone State.

A recent report detailed the results of a standardized test in reading, science and math, which was administered to 15 year old students in 65 countries around the globe. With American students coming in 23rd and 24th in most subjects, Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education was quoted as saying "We can quibble, or we can face the brutal truth that we're being out-educated". While they’re mapping Pennsylvania’s educational system in the short-term, I’m hoping that Mr. Corbett’s team looks long and hard at the state’s role in early education.

Child development experts over the last 10 to 20 years have come to understand the importance of a child’s learning from birth through age 5. During these years, a child’s brain is being “hard-wired”, developing social and intellectual skills which will impact that child’s success not only in elementary and secondary schools but into college and beyond.

Unlike past generations with stay at home moms taking on the role of baby’s first teacher, federal statistics show that today 56 percent of mothers with children under the age of 1 are in the labor force. The quality of the early education opportunities of Pennsylvania’s youngest children is wildly inconsistent with some following a curriculum with proven enrichment activities, while others change diapers and feed an occasional snack. Why not develop a stronger role in assuring a quality early care state-wide throughout Pennsylvania that is reasonably priced, and is staffed by excellent teachers offering age-appropriate educational programs better preparing our youngest students for moving up to 1st grade.

As I stated earlier, while the 2011 Pennsylvania education budget will offer Tom Corbett a very difficult challenge, true educational reform offers Tom Corbett a very unique opportunity for success.