EDUCATION: Family is key

The assertions made in the Coeur d’Alene Press last Monday by Rod Gramer of “Idaho Business for Education” make up one side of an interesting debate currently being hashed out in the academic field of education policy.

Rod Gramer made a reasonably competent case for increased funding for “school readiness” programs, which is normally coupled with calls for a robustly state-funded all-day pre-K program. He didn’t go that far, but that was the road on which he was traveling.

The other side of the debate, which Mr. Gramer did not present, is the “family support” side. This school of thought maintains that finding other ways to boost the income of low income families directly is a more cost effective way to impact school achievement scores.

In fact, instead of bankrolling yet another nonprofit, the member businesses that fund “Idaho Business for Education” should perhaps give that money directly to their lowest paid employees. At the very least, the “Trustee Members,” like Chobani, could be doing more to halt the importation of unskilled foreign labor that is directly competing with Idaho’s existing low-income families for which “Idaho Business for Education” is purporting to advocate.

A very good introduction to this debate was released by the Brookings Institution, and can be found at:

https://www.brookings.edu/research/family-support-or-school-readiness-contrasting-models-of-public-spending-on-childrens-early-care-and-learning/

BJORN HANDEEN

Coeur d’Alene