A report by the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children shows 60 percent of children statewide do not meet the kindergarten school readiness benchmark. LPIC Director Libbie Sonnier says the state has made progress in expanding early care and education, but the need is still great.
“One year of a four year old program is not going to get you where you need to be as a ready to learn kindergartner. So we know that we need to make sure that we’re increasing access.”
Sonnier says early childhood education is critical because 90% of a child’s brain development is between birth and 5 years old. She says pre-K education helps develop social, emotional, and problem-solving skills.
“Knowing how to get along with other people. Knowing how to manage behavior. Being able to say how you feel that day. Also being able to have sound symbol relationship.”
Louisiana spends less than half of one percent of state dollars on early care and education.
It will take $86 million dollars for the state to make sure every at-risk child can access an early care and education program according to the Early Childhood Care and Education Commission. Sonnier says it will take a unified effort to make sure children and parents have the tools they need to succeed.
“When children have access to quality child care and education they have better life outcomes. Parents are the first teachers and its important to make sure that we are arming parents with what they need but also making sure that we’re creating more access for quality care and education.”
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