I’m so glad to see the Chattanooga 2.0 movement addressing the importance of early childhood education. As a mother of two boys in elementary school (who also attended pre-k) I can say from experience that their years in pre-k were a critical building block for their success today.
As a two-parent working family, we do everything we can to provide the best opportunities for our kids, but I know they would not have been prepared for the standards of learning in the kindergarten classroom without the foundation they received when they were three and four years old.
Every child deserves the same access to opportunities to build that foundation, regardless of their family’s financial situation. Teachers and students will be better served when the students walking into the classroom are ready to learn on the first day of kindergarten and don’t have to fight to catch up all year long. We can do better.
Suzy Anthony