YoungStar was launched with the goal of significantly improving the quality of child care, particularly focused on children from low-income families. Early results are promising. But is it feasible that YoungStar can dramatically increase the number of high-quality early childhood programs with sustainable financing? What are the key issues?
Effective Teachers are Key to Quality: Teachers play the central role in creating rich learning environments that produce lasting gains in student achievement, according to Jim Minervino, who is analyzing research supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (See his blog: Teachers Key to High-Quality Early Learning).
”The most important feature of any pre-K classroom is the teacher surrounded by young children.”
– Jim Minervino

The cost of effective teachers is also the greatest obstacle to a sustainable system of high quality programs (rated 4 Stars or 5 Stars) under YoungStar.
Fiscal Challenge: My hope was that as YoungStar identified high-quality programs and helped programs improve to high-quality ratings, fiscal resources would increase to maintain the quality achieved. It appeared that the tiered reimbursement system would significantly boost the funding for 4-Star and 5-Star programs. However, in the meantime, child care subsidy payments declined by over $100 million annually, largely due to frozen subsidy payments, 5% cuts for 2-Star programs, and other reductions in reimbursements. The drop in subsidy payments has more than canceled out the fiscal incentives from tiered reimbursement, leaving child care programs struggling to afford higher quality.
If the child care budget – which includes YoungStar and the Wisconsin Shares subsidy program- had remained stable instead of plummeting, a solid financing system for high-quality programs could be in place.
A Vision for the Future: As part of his research for Washington State, Jim Minervino went in search of programs that met high-quality standards at a reasonable cost, assuming that teachers with strong educational qualifications was the main driver of costs. He found four Pre-K programs that met solid child outcomes within reasonable prices: New Jersey’s Abbott Pre-K, Boston’s Pre-K, Maryland’s EEEP initiative, and North Carolina’s More at Four. He believes $8,000 – $10,000 per child for early education (6-hour Pre-K) can be achieved in most states, considering that a substantial investment is already in place from federal, state and local governments. See: Lessons from Research and the Classroom
Hopefully Wisconsin policymakers and leaders will understand the promise of YoungStar, and move toward a system that sustains high-quality child care programs.
Dave Edie