Our View: Left behind
The possible closure of the Early Head Start center at Crosswalk in downtown Spokane is just one example of the scrambling officials are doing nationwide to cope with the funding shortfall from Congress.
The problem is simple: The feds mandate that a certain number of children be served, but funding is decided in an alternate universe. Head Start’s nationwide budget has remained about $6.8 billion for several years. This year it was trimmed by 1 percent. Never mind that costs increase inexorably for employees, health care, power bills, leases, materials, and on and on.
On the horizon is the possibility that Congress will pass a bill mandating a bachelor’s degree for Early Head Start teachers. That’s another fine idea that won’t work without funding to help current preschool teachers with college costs and to pay them wages commensurate with other teachers once they’ve gotten a four-year degree.
So where should the money come from? As we’re often told, budgeting is a function of priorities. If that’s the case, then what does it say about the nation’s priorities that a mere two items from the White House’s half-trillion-dollar defense budget for 2007 outpace expenditures for early learning? An article from Slate shows that the Pentagon would get:
$2.6 billion for one SSN-774 Virginia-class submarine. The Navy already has 60 of them. How much safer will we be with 61? Three of those nuclear attack subs more than cover the entire annual budget for Head Start.
$5.3 billion for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. This would cover the cost of five of these aircraft. Military plans call for 3,000 of them.
A strong national defense is important, and the machinery of war is always going to cost more than a social program such as Head Start. But these examples show that early learning opportunities occupy a mere sliver of the overall federal budget and can be much better funded without deepening the deficit.
The returns on that investment would be great. Spending on the front end of education would alleviate some of the spending at the back end. And as North Idaho’s Head Start director Doug Fagerness said in March, “Tuition at Boise State Penitentiary is $20,000 per year.”
President Bush noted the importance of early learning in 2002, when he said: “On the first day of school, children need to know letters and numbers. They need a strong vocabulary. And they need to love books. These are the building blocks of learning, and this nation must provide them. Early learning is a priority for my government.”
In 2002, Head Start served 669 children in Spokane County; Early Head Start served 210. Those figures have not budged. Too many children are being left behind.
A priority without funding is an empty promise.