CREATING AFFORDABLE CHILD CARE: A COMMUNITY INVESTMENT
APPENDIX IV: FORUM BACKGROUND MATERIALS
Gov. Paul LePage's biennial budget devotes about half,
$3.1 billion, of the state's $6.13 billion, to kindergarten
through college education. Only $6.45 million of the states
General Fund annually is directed toward pre-K education,
through Head Start, child care subsidies and family visiting
services, according to the Department of Health and Human
Services.
Although experts believe the foundation for learning is laid
well before children enter kindergarten, pre-kindergarten
workers are paid at a much lower rate than other teachers
and do not have the same incentives for professional
development.
Rowe notes that accredited early-childhood professionals
are paid about $26,000 a year, while K-12 educators are
paid on average $46,000 and higlier-ed professors are paid
more than $60,000 on average,
"We can have a world class KL-12 education system, says
Rowe, "but unless children start kindergarten ready to learn,
we will never see world-class results.
That's where MELIG comes in, creating a fund that will
compel pre-K centers to increase the quality of educational
programming and make it easier for low-iacome families to
pay for those services. Clair says MELIG does not want to
reinvent the wheel by creating a new nonprofit. Instead, the
group will rely on the Maine Community Foundation and
the Maine Development Foundation to receive, hold, invest
and administer the funds.
"We feel really good about that — tl-iat it will be a lean
organization that can really focus in. on our core objective of
raising funds and administermg funds in a way that is going
to stay 100% here in. Maine," says Clair.
That will allow the business leaders to do what they do best:
build and execute a successful business plan.
It takes a village
MELIG member Chris Emmons, CEO of Gorham Savings
Bank, says he is excited to be part ofMELIG. The caliber
of the executives assembled by Rowe gives it a high
probability of success, he says. "It s a powerful group of
people who have a track record of getting things done "
says Emmons, who joined to help ensure Maine has a well-
prepared work force.
The group recognizes that adverse childhood experiences
— such as neglect, abuse or exposure to substance abuse
can and does often increase high-risk behavior and chronic
adulthood diseases. These experiences can result in "toxic
stress," which can affect fundamental brain development
and lead to health problems later in life. Ac-^cord-^-'ing
to a study by the US. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and Kaiser Permanente, toxic stress can increase
rates of alcoholism, heart disease, liver disease, diabetes,
depression and more.
These conditions come at a cost — for the state and
employers, Maine's social and economic costs are about
$300 million annually for special education; $60 million for
child mental health services; $160 million for corrections;
$900 million for substance abuse and $1 billion for
domestic violence.
There's a consensus among the group that without
investments in a child's early learning, emotional, physical
and social needs, the cost of doing business in Maine will
only increase, whether through an unproductive work force
or increased health care, welfare and other social costs.
Emmons says the group will likely look at state agencies
and nonprofits to figure out how its help can have
maximum impact. "There are a lot of touch-points along
that spectrum on how to get [help to] that kid who is in a
difficult situation," says Emmons. "How do you reach in
tliere and give that kid a fair chance?"
Enunons and Clair say the solution, is not a quick fix,
since it will take years before measurable results would be
realized. But Emmons says a community bank is uniquely
positioned to take a long view when measuring returns.
"You can take a long position where you can invest in that
early stage and perhaps not see the kinds of returns of what
that investment is going to look like until many years down
the road - 15, 20 years down the road," says Emmons.
Early learning and its price
Recently, business leaders have been paying more attention
to early childhood development. The Mame Economic
Growth Council recently included fourth-grade reading
scores as one oftlie 25 indicators in its annual Measures of
Growth report.
Although the 2012 MEGC report will not be released until
March, the 2011 report red-flags fourfh-grade reading
scores needing attention, along with cost of doing business,
health care and research and development expenditures.
Only one-third of fourth-graders read at a proficient level,
the report states.
Meanwhile, the Maine Development Foundation's and
MAKING ENDS MEET IN HOWARD COUNTY