The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Writing for me begins with plugging in my ancient iPod and listening to a song I hope will guide my words toward a good purpose: “O-o-h Child” by The Five Stairsteps, a family music group from Chicago.
“O-o-h child, things are gonna to get easier, O-o-h child, things will get brighter.”
“Someday, we’ll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun.”
The lyrics remind me that good, big things don’t happen at once. Progress is progress. Steps are steps.
Tucson took one of those steps last week when Mayor Regina Romero and City Council gave final approval to a plan to spend $500,000 in federal COVID-related relief money to help Tucson and South Tucson families affected by the pandemic pay for child care.
The money, from the federal CARES Act funding, must be spent by Dec. 31. Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona administers the program and can provide up to $2,275 per child from infants to 12-year-olds. Families can apply for more than one child and payment goes directly to the child-care provider.
Romero made high-quality early childhood education a pillar of her mayoral campaign and this We Are One/Somos Uno Resiliency Fund child-care scholarship fund is a terrific step.
The Mayor and council approved the program last Wednesday, and the online application process went live on Monday. About 10 volunteers are helping process applications as quickly as possible.
By Friday, Catholic Community Services had received applications from 270 families and inquiries from 115 child-care providers.
This is a promising first step, demonstrating there is both a need for public investment in high-quality early childhood education and a way — through scholarships — to deliver the help.
The Preschool Promise, a local group working to make affordable high-quality preschool available to as many as 3- and 4-year-olds as possible, has been talking with school districts, municipalities, Pima County, state government and private donors for more than a year. (Disclosure: I’m part of the committee.)
I’ve reported on and studied how other cities, counties and states have made high-quality pre-K available to their residents — Mecklenburg County in North Carolina (building on what North Carolina also does statewide), Cincinnati, San Antonio, Seattle, Philadelphia, New York City.
Across the country, communities are seeing the high rate of return on investing their money in giving their youngest the best possible education. These efforts help businesses, employees, families, kids and show benefits into the next generation.
Voters in Multnomah County in Oregon (which includes Portland) approved a plan to create and fund an anticipated 7,000 new preschool slots by 2026. Their Preschool For All plan includes all families and, this is key, increases preschool teacher salary to roughly that of a public school kindergarten teacher, which would more than double the preschool lead teacher’s pay.
Voters in St. Louis approved a property tax increase to raise money for early childhood education programs, and voters in San Antonio overwhelmingly supported keeping a small sales tax that pays for high-quality pre-K programs across that city.
These are steps — first, second and third steps toward making lives better by investing in young children, small businesses, education and economic opportunity.
Tucson is taking these steps forward.
Things are gonna get easier.
Things will get brighter.
Let’s start that walk.
