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Tell U.S. Governors To Fund Universal Preschool
Final signature count: 6,428
6,428 signatures toward our 30,000 goal
Sponsor: The Literacy Site
America's inequality is soaring, but providing quality preschools in poor communities can bridge this growing divide
Inequality has become a central feature of American life. According to Pew Research Center, the wealth gap between America’s rich and poor more than doubled between 1989 and 2016, creating a situation where America’s highest earners net most of the country’s total income, despite comprising just 20 percent of the population. This leaves everyone else struggling to make do with the spoils, i.e. middle and lower-class wages that have barely budged in 50 years.1
Income disparities are especially stark in communities of color, where Black households earn just a fraction of the average White family. Researchers have found Black Americans at least twice as likely to be impoverished or unemployed than their White counterparts, triggering a devastating trickle-down effect that leaves White Americans with almost twice as much income and 13 times the wealth.1,2
Fortunately, we already know how to correct this glaring imbalance, which has left the U.S. with more inequality than any other G7 country. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, funding universal preschool would slash inequality by giving poor students equal access to the educational opportunities that wealthier (typically White) Americans already enjoy. In addition to bridging the gap between rich and poor, funding universal preschool would boost social mobility, reduce poverty and crime, improve college graduation rates, and even bolster tax revenues by helping disadvantaged Americans find better jobs.3
How can preschool possibly yield so many benefits? Studies point to the extremely fertile development of a child’s brain between ages 2-4, when toddlers begin practicing teamwork, problem-solving, and cognitive/ analytical skills. Kids who develop these skills early on –- i.e. in a quality preschool – are also likely to practice them in adulthood. “If a child is not motivated to learn and engage early on in life, the more likely it is that when the child becomes an adult, he or she will fail in social and economic life,” writes professor (and Nobel Prize-winning economist) James Heckman.”3-5
But funding universal preschool on a national level still faces hurdles in Congress, largely because of the costs involved. This leaves us appealing to U.S. governors to invest in this long-term solution that more than pays for itself by addressing inequality, poverty, crime, and other social/economic ills that oppress millions of U.S. citizens. 4,6
Please sign the petition asking U.S. governors to commit to funding universal preschool. Education is a human right and, in this case, key to correcting a system that only allows certain people to thrive.
