Ohio was among 10 states that decreased pre-kindergarten funding for the 2009-10 school year, according to the report, "Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2010," released recently. 

The PEW Center on the States reports that lawmakers in Ohio, facing a comparatively manageable budget gap of 5 percent, chose to decimate the state's two-program pre-k system, derailing a turnaround that had barely begun and setting themselves and their state's young children even further behind their peers across the country.

The PEW report states, "Overall, the remains of the state's pre-k system are expected to serve at least 12,000 fewer low-income children - a decrease of more than 50 percent from 2008-09 - even as the ranks of young children in poverty are likely to grow." 

This report underscores what we have been saying at Prepare the Future Ohio--we are not battling an incurable disease, where we simply lack the knowledge to fix what is wrong. We are battling a failure of public will to do what is right! We already know what is wrong with our public schools, and the research is there to tell us how to fix the brokenness. It is not a lack of knowledge that we face, it is a failure of nerve.

In this case, in Ohio, legislators have ignored the exisiting research, which clearly demonstrates that pre-k builds the human capital essential for economic recovery and gives children the high-quality educational opportunities they need to enter kindergarten ready to succeed. 

Prepare The Future Ohio is a values driven, grassroots, faith-based advocacy organization that is building the infrastructure to create the public will to secure education justice for all of Ohio’s children.

The good news is that the bad news is unnecessary.

We invite you to come join us in the movement for change here in our state!

The picture you see here is of my grandson Zachary, who will be two years old this Christmas. Zachary's mother (my daughter Jae Marie) is a teacher. She and her husband have read to him since the time he was born. He can already count, and he can identify letters of the alphabet. When he is three he will be enrolled in a pre-school, because his parents can afford it. He has been given a tremendous "head start" in life.

Not every kid in Ohio is this fortunate. Not every kid is Superman.

ALL of our children deserve the kind of pre-k educational opportunities that Zachary will receive.

If you agree, I invite you to become a member of Prepare the Future Ohio today.

Together we can build a better world for ALL our children!