Education Advocates Call on Congress to Stop Cuts, Expand Early Education Opportunities for Children
Faith Whitmore, District Director to Rep. Ami Bera; Patrick Stelmach, State Organizer of California Fair Share; Paulette Greenhouse; Raquel Simental, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte; Rick Mockler, California Head Start Association
Rancho Cordova, CA – California Fair Share and other education advocates today called on Congress to pass the Strong Start for America’s Children Act, a 10-year initiative to improve education for children from birth through their fifth year. California Fair Shareand CourageCampaign.orgdelivered more than 1,600 petition signatures to Rep. Ami Bera, demanding that Congress stop further cuts to education funding and expand opportunities for young children.“Studies show that early learning and care are key to closing the academic achievement gap – and producing the skilled workforce critical to the success of our nation’s economy,’ said Patrick Stelmach, state organizer for California Fair Share. “We need a shared state and federal partnership to promote early childhood education. Today we are thanking Congressman Bera for his leadership in working for the best interests of our children.”
“We need to prepare our children to compete in the 21st-century economy, not stop early education programs that we know are successful,” wrote Rep. Bera in a Feb. 26 editorial in theSacramento Bee. In September, Rep. Bera donated $1,300 to the SETA Head Start program, in an effort to raise awareness of the good work done in the programs and the detrimental impacts of automatic across-the-board spending cuts, commonly known as “sequestration”.
“If we want California schools to succeed, the first step is for incoming children to be ready to learn,” said Rick Mockler, Executive Director of the California Head Start Association. “Unfortunately, the federal sequester has denied thousands of children access to early childhood education which at-risk children