2008 July « Washington Policy Watch

July 31, 2008 • 11:32 am 0

Close the education gap to promote economic growth

The American Dream: A fair start — then work hard and play by the rules, and you’ll have a chance to live a better life. But today, a widening education gap threatens the Dream, and with it our nation’s long-term economic success.

From David Brooks:

America’s educational progress was amazingly steady [between 1870-1950], and the U.S. opened up a gigantic global lead. [Since 1970], America’s lead over its economic rivals has been entirely forfeited, with many nations surging ahead in school attainment…

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Filed under: early learning, education, state economy, tax and budget, work and family, business, childcare, children, economy, paid sick days, pre-kindergarten, preschool, public policy, school, united states, washington state

July 30, 2008 • 4:07 pm 0

Boost productivity, economic growth with paid sick days

A new survey of Ohioans finds that 50 percent went to work at least once in the past year when they should have stayed home to get better (hat tip to The Inside Job):

The poll, conducted by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health, found the chief reasons employees in swing states Ohio and Florida were not taking sick days were because those days weren’t paid or because they felt pressure from their employer to show up.

Denying paid sick leave to employees is a classic case of “penny wise, pound foolish”. With paid sick leave available, workers are more inclined to take leave when they need it — instead of heading to work when they shouldn’t. The result?

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Filed under: work and family, business, economy, paid sick days, public policy, united states, washington state, work

July 29, 2008 • 12:51 pm 0

Pre-kindergarten: A smart investment yields real results for kids and taxpayers

There is a quiet debate going on in Washington right now (in various venues) over the extent of the state’s fiscal responsibility for early learning.

This is a welcome shift in public dialogue, away from a debate over the merits of pre-k for improved academic outcomes, child health, and other benefits, and toward a discussion of how we’re going to fulfill our commitment to educational opportunity for our kids.

As reported by Early Ed Watch:

…participating in just the pre-k program had significant positive impacts on high school completion and also reduced special education placements and grade retention. In other words, the…pre-k intervention had some positive impacts even when children didn’t receive sustained elementary supports.

But the greatest benefits were for youngsters who participated in both the pre-k and the school-age interventions. Particularly important, students who participated in the full intervention had higher test scores at age 17–something that wasn’t true for the other groups.

Intervention	Impacts (relative to comparison group)	Benefit to Society per $ Invested[1]
Preschool only	Increased high school completion Reduced special education placement Reduced grade retention	$2.88
School-age only	Reduced grade retention and special education placements	$1.42
Preschool and school age	Reduced grade retention and special education placements Higher achievement test scores (age 17)	$3.59

Filed under: early learning, education, children, pre-kindergarten, preschool, public policy, school, washington state

July 25, 2008 • 11:56 am 0

Fixing the childcare market failure

With both parents working outside the home in most households, affordable, high-quality childcare is critical to promoting a climate that is healthy for our businesses and families.

But according to a recent KING 5 TV report, more parents than ever in King County are desperately searching for childcare and getting nowhere:

The problem: “more children and fewer facilities.”

More kids and fewer facilities aren’t the problem. They are outward indicators – symptoms – of a childcare market that isn’t working properly, for either parents or their childcare providers.

After all, if the market were functioning, increased demand (which has been building for years) would tend to improve pay and working conditions for workers, as employers competed to recruit additional staff. Instead, watching cars pays better than watching kids, and the job is still one of the hardest you’ll every try.

Alternatively, pay and working conditions would stay low but childcare center owners, flush with cash, would be opening new childcare centers as fast as they could. But that’s not happening either, as evidenced by the KING 5 report.

So, what’s up with the high fees and lack of availability?

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Filed under: early learning, work and family, childcare, children, economy, pre-kindergarten, preschool, public policy, washington state

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Close the education gap to promote economic growth

Boost productivity, economic growth with paid sick days

Pre-kindergarten: A smart investment yields real results for kids and taxpayers

Fixing the childcare market failure

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