CNE event seeks answers to early childhood education questions
By Dick Maloney
Too many families struggle to climb out of a hole only to find themselves standing at the edge of a cliff, with the choice to jump and hope, or stay where they are and never reach the top.
People who work with such families in Clermont County used that analogy to describe one of the myriad of challenges they face, as they gathered for a roundtable discussion at Clermont Northeastern Preschool and Early Childhood Center in Owensville March 27. The event was hosted by The Clermont County Early Childhood Coordinating Committee (EC3) in partnership with Groundwork Ohio and the Southwest Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children.
Representatives of Clermont County Family & Children First, Child Focus, YMCA, Clermont Developmental Disabilities Early Intervention and Clermont County Mental Health and Recovery Board, as well as school administrators, shared their stories with State Sen. Terry Johnson and State Rep. Jean Schmidt.
Among the most impassioned pleas came from Julie Schmidt, the founder and executive director of CNE CARES (Community Alliance for Resources, Engagement and Support), which operate a food pantry out of the Preschool building. Julie Schmidt is also a member of the CNE Board of Education. She (and others) described the cliff as that point past which someone becomes ineligible for all public assistance.
For example, a single mother could get help with daycare and other expenses up to a certain income level, but beyond that level, would receive nothing. Someone in that situation would actually make less working fulltime than parttime. Such rules put stress on families, employers and educators. Schools may not offer all-day preschool because the costs are not worth the return; employers cannot find enough fulltime employees. People who otherwise could cycle out of assistance programs stay in them, further straining those budgets.
As part of the roundtable event, Johnson and Jean Schmidt visited two classrooms – one for the HeadStart program and one preschool, interacting with the teachers and children. The students left an impression on Johnson.
“It really comes down to actually seeing the kids that are receiving the benefits. I think it was the highlight of the day with the work that's put into this, you know, see reflected in their faces,” he said. “They're just beautiful little children of God, and they deserve everything we can possibly give them.”
How much they can give them, though, is the multi-million-dollar question.
“I think it's always a struggle … where to put all those precious taxpayer dollars. And clearly, this particular area deserves a lot of attention and gets a lot of attention. But we're seeing things in our society that aren't going in the right direction. Families under great stress, inflation off the charts. You know, the fact that we don't have the manufacturing bases to … provide the jobs that we need, and all those things are bringing greater pressure and I think it's reflected in the demand that you're seeing that you can't meet,” Johnson said.
Beth McManus, Early Learning Division Officer at Child Focus, said her organization has seen an increase in “vulnerable children” since 2020. “The mental health needs have intensified over the past three years and continue to grow and the issue is compounded by the workforce shortages that are facing all early childhood providers,” McManus said.
The Director of Early Childhood Services for Clermont Board of Developmental Disabilities Arley Hammons said finding and paying staff is a critical need.
“The biggest message I would like to get across is being able to pay staff more so that they are willing to work with the population that we serve,” Hammons said. “Being direct service and support to families with children with disabilities is an important job and if we were able to have funding to give staff more money to work or have more funds to hire more staff than that would be great.”
Collaboration between the various agencies is one of Clermont County’s strengths, CNE Special Education Director Glenda Greene said, but there are still people they can’t reach, in part because they are unable to offer full-day preschool. She noted that 33 percent of kindergarten students in the district attended preschool.
“So you have 50 out of 75 kids that did not have any type of preschool experience that are already behind where they need to be educationally,” she said.
Marci Keith, Community Engagement Manager for Clermont County Mental Health & Recovery Board, helped guide the conversations. She said Groundwork Ohio has updated its early childhood dashboard and as looking for local entities to reach out to elected officials.
There were, of course, more questions than answers or solutions, but everyone left the meeting with hope that their concerns would be addressed. All have ideas of what the next step should be. Keith noted that Gov. Mike DeWine proposed a number of early childhood-focused programs in his latest budget.
“I would love to see the increase in publicly-funded childcare be increased from 140 to 150 percent,” Keith said. “I think having more families and mothers qualify for medical care would help with the continuity of care. I want to see a constant funding towards early childhood and I think this is just the start.”
Glenda Greene is an advocate of universal preschool, which she said would put more people into the workforce.
McManus would like to see Head Start programs leveraged “to build more quality capacity to support the unique needs of infants and toddlers, especially in areas that have limited opportunities for families that need care for their little ones. invest in Early Childhood Mental Health to address the growing needs of children and families and support staff in the field,” she said.
Workforce strength is also a concern for Gretchen Behimer, program director at Clermont County Family and Children First.
“With the shortage of qualified professionals in the childcare world, classrooms are sitting empty, while there are parents desiring their children to have childcare,” she said. “Our biggest challenge is funding and also the limited availability of trained staff to support our young children and their families.”
Elisia Greene, from the YMCA’s Batavia Heights Childcare program, said they are encountering social-emotional issues in younger children – as young as 2- and 3-years-old.
“Many families are facing stressful times and the impact it is having on their children is evident in their behavior,” Elisia Greene said.
Hammons recognizes the funding issues, but sees investing in the program as a win-win for all.
“I feel that if there was a way to support daycare and working families who need to utilize that, but do not because it cost more than what they are making, then we would see a lot more people wanting to and going back to work,” she said.
Glenda Greene said the roundtable was a positive first step and is optimistic change will happen.
I think that this was really a collective effort that's paid off. Whether or not we see any changes with that. We'll have to see how that what transpires, but I think it was just very encouraging,” she said.
An increase in school funding from the state would help, Julie Schmidt said, noting that right now, schools are funded at 2018 levels. “Leveling” the assistance cliff would help families as well, she said.
“If there were a gradual tapered off schedule for benefits for families as their income rises, it would help. Right now it is more all or nothing… they’re forced to make a decision, Do I work or do I not work?’”
Elisia Greene said setting the proper priorities matters – to the entire community.
“While government is not in any way an answer to the problems, there are tax dollars available and consideration to be given to some allocation by the government of those funds for those that pay a large portion of those tax dollars,” she said. “If we want our families to continue to be strong and raising children that have family morals and values, we must give fair consideration to all families.”