In today’s News & Observer Harold Sellars, a vice president at Mechanics & Farmers Bank and a board member of The North Carolina Partnership for Children, calls on business leaders to support pre-kindergarten education and child care programs.
About halfway through the piece, Sellars writes,
The [U.S.] Chamber’s new report, “Ready, Set, Go! Why Business Should Support Early Childhood Education,” addresses these essential building blocks. It recommends that states support hiring qualified and effective early childhood educators, integrate early learning and care systems for children from birth to age 5, develop seamless transitions from the early childhood education system to the K-12 system and increase the availability of high-quality programs that support working parents.
Whoa! A report that explains why businesses should support early childhood education simply recommends greater government support of early childhood education.
In the next paragraph, Sellars applauds a former governor for implementing a state-operated early childhood program in North Carolina.
Fortunately, beginning with the leadership of Gov. Jim Hunt in the early 1990s, North Carolina has led the way in early childhood. With Smart Start, North Carolina became the first in the nation to create a statewide early childhood system.
I am still not sure why the government needs the support of the business community to do any of this. As for the business community, are they in any position to absorb, i.e., pass along to consumers, the kind of tax increase needed to realize the vision of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce?
Who paid for the “Ready, Set, Go” report anyway? Foreigners?
