Published in the April 13-26, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life

By John Horner

John Horner

John Horner

I recently went to the state capitol with the Silicon Valley Chambers of Commerce Coalition to discuss issues of interest to the business community. Although we spoke with California legislators and staff about longstanding regulatory and cost concerns, most of our group’s conversations were focused on the importance of early childhood education at one end of the school spectrum and career/technical education in the later years. The Chambers have identified these two as high priority areas, in part because they do not typically get the funding and attention they deserve.

Sometimes early childhood education is mistakenly thought of as “child care” in support of working parents. This limiting view is particularly true with some of the taxpayer funded programs offered to families of limited financial means. We have learned that this babysitting perspective is, however, short sighted.

Multiple studies have concluded that early childhood development funding is effective longterm with a financial return of seven to eight times the expenses. These effects are particularly significant if three- and four-year-olds from modest to low income families are provided a high quality, age-appropriate educational experience. These students then arrive in the K-12 system better prepared.

We know that an interest in reading by the third grade is a critical gateway to everything that comes next. Providing quality pre-school education significantly supports achieving those milestones. Although the state can and should do more, there is also local realization that we have much to gain from local/regional initiatives as well. The Strong Start project is a significant joint effort of local business, government, educational and nonprofits pushing toward addressing this opportunity. This isn’t only about being good to our children and families, it is fundamental to improving the cost effectiveness of our social systems and the profitability of businesses.

The other big issue we focused on is that so-called “career and technical education” in the middle and high school years shouldn’t be an optional extra provided when grants or other special funding can be found. The simple truth is that our economy provides about one job requiring an advanced degree to every two jobs requiring a bachelors level degree and six jobs requiring some particular skills beyond a traditional high school diploma, but short of a four year degree. For the past few decades we have been highly focused on providing the incentives and opportunities to go to college, but the economic distribution of job opportunities has actually moved very little. Consider, for example, the rapidly expanding health care field. Yes, we need doctors who complete a lengthy educational regimen. But the doctors are surrounded by nurses who are in turn supported by specialized radiology technicians, phlebotomists and other specialists. Offering and honoring the educational opportunities to fill these jobs needs to become an integral part of our educational system, and not a few electives which come and go based on the vagaries of funding.

One way all of us can support common sense progress is by respecting all honest work done well. Many local educational and business organizations understand the opportunities we have to make progress. They need your understanding and support to make more opportunities available for everyone.

John Horner is the President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce. Contact him at [email protected].