Dear Governor Brown:

Please make early learning a top priority in the budget. 2014 is the year to make a significant investment in early learning. In the coming weeks, California has a real and historic opportunity to provide every child, starting with those who need it most, with high-quality early education, setting them on a path to future success.

We urge you to:

1. over a multiyear period, ensure all low-income 4 year olds have access to high-quality pre-kindergarten;
2. building on the mixed-delivery system, provide adequate full-day, full-year pre-kindergarten for children from working families; and,
3. improve quality and expand access to child care, parent support and preventative health programs for the most vulnerable infants and toddlers and their families.

We can’t keep denying the economics, the science or public opinion polls that support early learning:

• Research shows by the time they enter kindergarten, low-income children are already more than a year behind in language development and reading skills.
• This is a smart and prudent investment. Every $1 invested in early learning yields $7 in the form of lower grade retention, crime rates, special education placement and higher graduation rates and lifetime earnings.
• Quality matters. A report released this month found California is in the bottom five states in meeting preschool quality standards, meeting only 4 of 10 quality benchmarks for our state pre-k program. All of the preschool programs with significant gains in student achievement and return on investment have had high quality standards and adequate funding.
• Californians support investing in high-quality pre-kindergarten. 9 out of 10 Californians say attending pre-k is important to K-12 success, and 73% want California to include funding in the 2014-15 budget, according to recent polls.

Please make early childhood education a top priority in the 2014-15 state budget.

Subject

Prioritize Early Learning in the 2014-15 Budget

Sent to

Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr.; similar letters to Senate President pro Tem and Assembly Speaker

In response to

Consideration of 2014-2015 state budget

Cooperating Organizations

Early Edge California and more than 30 other organizations