When we look to cities that are moving in the right direction these days, it’s almost inevitable that there was a point in time when a strategic decision or investment was made that changed their trajectories for the better.
The best investments – the ones that have the traction to change things – are rooted in what’s distinctive about the specific city itself. This is something that the private sector has known for some time: competitive advantage is found in differentiation.
It’s that differentiation that tells us why Pre-K means so much to Memphis and its future. It’s also why we have to approve the referendum on the ballot to increase the sales tax rate so that every child has a fair start in life.
Here’s why it matters: When compared to the other 51 largest MSAs, Memphis is in the top of the rankings for the percentage of the population under 18 years old. As Portland economist Joe Cortright has said: “While other cities are trying to recruit talent, Memphis has it already in its classrooms. Of course, the trick is to get these students educated and receiving degrees that prepare them for the jobs of the future.”
Research and Common Sense
There are many research-backed reasons to support Pre-K, but the one that gets our attention is that students who have participated in Pre-K are more likely to graduate from high school (and hopefully, are poised to attend college).
In that way, for us, Pre-K is more than an educational strategy. Rather, it is a fundamental talent strategy.
That’s why we have written so many posts in the past in support of Pre-K, and why we think the upcoming referendum is the opportunity to walk the walk and not just talk the talk about how important our children are.
When it comes to Pre-K, it seems to be one of those times when research and common sense converge. After all, any of us who can afford to pay for our children or grandchildren to enroll in quality Pre-K do it, and we do it because we have seen the improvements that come from this early introduction to language, thinking, self-control, and pride in achievement.
However, this is denied to too many children. Fewer than half of the 242,000 children in Shelby County are economically secure and 40% of children in Memphis live in poverty, where the odds of climbing the income ladder are stacked against them. In this way, Pre-K is an early effort to level the playing field and give children often treated as liabilities the opportunities to become talented assets for our community as it works to compete for jobs in the knowledge economy.
Pre-K Talent Strategy
There is no more important priority in Memphis than a high-skill workforce, but we are now ranked 46th in the 51 largest regions in the percentage of college-educated 25-34 year-olds (and the percentage of college-educated workers accounts for 60% of a city’s economic success). To improve those percentages, there’s no better time than to start at the beginning and set in motion a different future for our youngest children.
Like all public policy issues, ultimately, our task as voters is to assess all the research and determine what the consensus is. For us, the body of research underscores its value and emphasizes its potential for Memphis, because of the hundreds of studies about Pre-K and early child development, it is the consensus opinion that Pre-K matters and prepares students for learning. To read more about these studies and their conclusions, click here for the sister blog post to this one.
Studies as recently as the interim one released by Vanderbilt University showed that children who don’t attend Pre-K failed kindergarten and first grade two times more than children who attended Pre-K. In addition, it concluded that children who attended Pre-K have better behaviors that contribute to learning, and this behavior leads to better first grade attendance, which is a strong predictor of long-term achievement. In addition, teachers – the ultimate experts in our book – rate children who attended Pre-K as better prepared for school and learning.
And yet, the importance of Pre-K is about more than academics. That is of course important, but more to the point, it’s about school readiness, and school readiness is about language and literacy, thinking skills, self-control, and self-confidence.
Children learn about language by listening to words, and Pre-K strengthens vocabulary and readiness to read. Pre-K encourages and leads children to think conceptually and connect concepts to form new ideas. Pre-K teaches children how to act in school, what good behavior is, and why it’s important to listen to teachers. Pre-K makes children self-confident and ready to learn as they enter school instead of seeing themselves as failures at the age of six by failing kindergarten or first grade.
Strong ROI
Most of all, children who attend Pre-K have better success in life.
For every $1 spent on Pre-K, there is a $5.12 benefit. By the time children who attended Pre-K are 27 years old, they are three times more likely to own a home than someone who did not attend Pre-K, twice as likely not to receive welfare and social services, and four times more likely to earn a higher annual income. In addition, people without Pre-K are twice as likely to be arrested by the time they are 27 years old.
A school system where children are five and six years old when they enter a classroom has not acted wisely on brain development research, which tells us that the brain is growing to 80 percent of its adult size and that vital learning is taking place before a child is five years old. This is time that cannot be wasted.
For too long, Pre-K has been seen as a worthy thing to do but not as an absolute necessity. Today, we know better. Pre-K can transform children’s lives, resulting in everything from improved vocabulary to improved school attendance to higher graduation rates.
A Brand That Matters
The American Dream is the bedrock belief that we live in a country where anyone can succeed. That dream has been possible because America led the world in education for 150 years, but today, there are trouble signs. At a time when human capital determines which cities succeed and which do not, we have a chance to invest early in human capital by investing in Pre-K.
In truth, there is no greater responsibility that we have as a community than to give every child a fair start in life, regardless of where he lives or how much his family earns. That’s what Pre-K is all about, because it produces the magic that occurs when we give children their best opportunities to prepare them for what lies ahead in their lives.
In the coming weeks, all of us have a chance to become advocates for passage of a sales tax increase that will fund Pre-K. We talk often about Memphis needing a brand that speaks to who we are and what we value. As for us, it’s hard to think of a better brand than for Memphis to be known as a city that cares for its children.
There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come. Pre-K’s time has definitely come.
This commentary is as close to perfection in thought and composition as any I’ve read. And I couldn’t agree more.
Reverend Kenneth Whalum is against the sales tax hike. Channel 5 reported him as saying, “It’s a lie because they can’t provide high-quality pre-K for every child in Memphis,” said Whalum.He says his research shows there’s about 10,000 4-year-olds in Memphis, not counting 5-year-olds who would not meet the birthday cutoff for Kindergarten.
“The bottom line … is that Memphis elected officials cannot be trusted to do what they say they’re going to with regard to education,” said Whalum.
Whalum says he believes the sales tax hike is regressive, unfairly burdening the poor.
I heard that interview with Whalum
Isn’t it interesting and telling that he says “Memphis elected officials cannot be trusted to do what they say they’re going to with regard to education” — since he was an elected school board member and has tried to regain his seat?
It’s hard to argue with the concept of Universal Pre-K. Aside from Reverend Whalum’s complaints, I do have several questions, to which I have not gotten good answers.
1) I understand that this money will be controlled by the Pre-K commission, and NONE of it HAS to be given back to the city, which is fine with me. Using this money for its intent is what needs to be done. However, what happens if we find that this money is not enough and we need more? The sales tax will have been maxed out at that point, and I can’t see either Shea or Jim going to the Council to propose a property tax hike when they sold this on the idea that this would REDUCE property taxes.
2) The Pre-K Commission reports to the Mayor and no one else. That’s great as long as Wharton or another supporter of the program is Mayor. What if Wharton leaves and is replaced by someone who was NOT a supporter of the program? Couldn’t the new Mayor just blow it all up and use the money for something else?
3) The Pre-K Commission, good people every one, are all of sufficient means that they could send their children or grandchildren to PRIVATE Pre-Ks of their own choosing. Couldn’t at least ONE of those spots gone to someone who actually NEEDS this program?
4) Shea keeps saying this is the ONLY way to do this, since the County Commission would never put up another county-wide tax. However, we will have a mostly-new Commission come September 2014, so how can he say that with certainty.
5) There are NO hard and fast plans in place for this program set up by the Pre-K commission. Why does this remind me of the old Memphis recording phrase “We’ll fix it in the mix” ? As my wife put it so well, this is like asking for a business loan without a business plan. Were I more cynical, I might compare this to the Underwear Gnomes meme.
Folks, I WANT to vote for this, but there are too many questions out there that are NOT being answered, and to ask these questions is not concern trolling, it’s seeking justification for something that COULD be terrific, IF IT IS DONE PROPERLY.
Wait, there’s more!
6) I asked Kathy Buckman if the criteria for determining who would operate these Pre-K centers had been developed when they came to Drinking Liberally, and, IIRC, she said not yet.
While a dear friend of mine has compared this to the TPC for the Schools, where things were developed over time (and arguments led to delays that led to Rick Masson being brought in as SPECIAL MASTER), it’s nerve-racking, given our history, to hand money over to anyone who is essentially saying TRUST US.
7) We know very little about the structure of the Pre-K Commission WRT terms, appointments, etc. The whole project seems to have been done in secret, corporate style, until the point where the taxpayers were asked to contribute.
At the end of the day, for those of us who WANT to support this, you have made it very difficult to do so.
While I support the concept and I am willing to support the sales tax proposal to fund the program, Steve raises excellent questions.
Great comments, all.
Here’s where we are.
It seems to us that it is often the nature of referenda that there are things to parse, things we wish were different, parts of the campaign we might have concerns about, and often questions to be answered. On this vote, it seems like political things between adults threaten what to us is one of the most important investments we can make in our kids. As a result, we say pass the sales tax increase and then let all of us who care about this issue and this city join together to lobby for a system that makes sense to us. Let’s send the message about what we want and what we are willing to do if we think the Commission is not proceeding in the direction that we think is right.
The people on the Pre-K Commission, led by Kathy Buckman, aren’t the kind of people who don’t work for the highest and best results every day, so we are confident that they will develop a high-quality system – because it is not pre-K alone but quality pre-K that makes the difference.
In the end, almost every election and every referendum is about Trust Me in some form or fashion. As we consider where to invest our limited amount of trust, we are willing to trust the people on that commission, because we think they are willing to get this right.
PS: I suspect that if this passes, county government will pretty soon start considering another vote in the unincorporated area since it will be the only place that doesn’t have the 9.75% tax rate.
I am disappointed by what appears to be the TRUST US response. The questions that I raised, as Urbanut noted, are serious questions that strike at the heart of the potential efficiency of the operation, if approved by the taxpayers.
Due to the sensitive nature of the politics of this city and region, more transparency isn’t just needed, it’s REQUIRED. Otherwise, people that would normally vote for such a proposal will vote NO. And I am not alone.
It’s sort of like those campaigns when candidates do things or take positions that sometimes baffle us and we call the campaign managers to complain and they say: first, we’ve got to get elected. First, we have to get a dedicated source for Pre-K, and we’re assuming that the messaging, etc., has been set up based on research that shows what’s the most winning approach.
We have no argument at all with your questions (of course) or your call for greater transparency (that’s needed on everything). We just think we’ve got to get Pre-K passed whatever it takes and whatever it looks like. Maybe we’re too Pollyannish, but we fear that if it doesn’t pass this time, it will vanish for too many years in which too many kids need it.
after all “IT’S FOR THE CHILLIN'”
It’s not just about the children. It’s about the future of this city and each of us who plans to live here. As we’ve pointed out, we’re not attracting college-educated workers. In fact, only about 15 cities are sucking up most of the 25-34 year-old college-educated workers.
We’re different because we have an anomalous bulge in children under 18, which means we have the potential talent here if we can start early to educate them and move them to college graduation.
While your comment seems to characterize the underlying ignorance that tends to ripply beneath the surface on this issue, if you care about your future, you should care about Pre-K because these children will ultimately drive our entire region, its economy, and its success.