What is groundWork?

groundWork is a statewide effort to increase Ohio's commitment to early care and education.  The effort is led by a statewide advisory committee of early care and education leaders, dedicated to building political will for the needs of young children. groundWork is an effort to provide families with the support and choices they need to get their children to school ready to learn, including accessible behavioral and primary health care, voluntary high quality early learning experiences available to every child in any setting, and a full day kindergarten option in every school district.

What is the groundWork platform?

The groundWork™ coalition recommends taking the following steps towards providing every child in Ohio with a fair start:

1. Provide voluntary access to high-quality early care and education programs for all children in Ohio in any appropriate setting designed to meet families' unique needs.

This includes:

• Expanding opportunities for quality early learning environments for children
• Continuing support for teacher training, parent support, and other quality improvements

2. Provide voluntary assessment, screening, and treatment for social and emotional problems for children ages birth to six years in Ohio.

This includes:

• Increased opportunities for family support and training
• Coaching for teachers to better identify and mediate social and emotional problems

3. Increase access to health services and supports for children birth to age six.

This includes:

• Increased access to and utilization of existing health programs
• Expanding opportunities for home visitation and early intervention for newborn and at-risk children
• Increased access to dental health services

4. Provide voluntary access to full-day kindergarten for every child in Ohio.

This includes:

• Ensuring that every school district in Ohio has the opportunity to offer full-day kindergarten programs to families on a voluntary basis

 What was the result of the State Fiscal Year 2008-2009 budget for young children in Ohio? 

The following provisions are a sample of what was included in this historic budget for children birth through age 6:

• A $29.5 million expansion of Early Childhood Education for three-and four-year-old children.
• Elimination of the parent work requirement and six month redetermination requirement for the Early Learning Initiative (ELI), restoring the program to its original purpose – a high quality educational program for children.
• Increased eligibility for ELI and child care to 200% of the FPL starting in SFY 2009, serving 4300 additional children - $19.5 million
• Increased funding for Help Me Grow by $23 million, providing home visitation, developmental screenings and other vital services to an additional 6,000 additional newborns, infants and toddlers and their families.
• An earmark of $1 million for behavioral health treatment for children birth through age 6 that will serve nearly 1,000 children; and an appropriation for necessary training for screening and assessment for behavioral health; and continued support for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation.
• An earmark of $25 million dollars per year to support and expand the state's quality rating program - Step Up to Quality.
• Establishment of the Child Care Market rate at the 65^th percentile of the 2006 market rate survey – a $112.3 million investment.
• A $39.6 million expansion of  full-day kindergarten for 7,500 children
• A $13 million expansion of kindergarten enrichment, which will benefit the school readiness of an additional 6,500 children.
• Language and a mandate to support the development of a fiscal model for building a comprehensive an early care and education system. This fiscal model will ensure long-term sustainability of early care and education programs in Ohio.
• Access to health care coverage to all Ohio children via an expansion of the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) eligibility to 300% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), serving up to 8,000 additional children, and by allowing families with higher incomes to buy into Medicaid if needed.
• Expansion of Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women to 200% of FPl, affecting 3,800 women per year- $24.9 million.

Who is groundWork?
The groundWork coalition is composed of state and local-level advocates in throughout Ohio, many of whom work day in and day out caring and educating Ohio's youngest children. Parents, senior citizens, and business leaders also volunteer their time with the groundWork coalition.

What does groundWork do?
The groundWork coalition helped make the SFY 2008-09 budget a victory for children birth through age six. They worked hard to educate their legislators on the importance of early care and education, made it visible in their local media, and ultimately made it a priority for Ohio's policy makers. A sample of the outcomes from the past two years include:

• ALL 132 members of the Ohio General Assembly attended at least one site visit with early care and education providers in their districts.
•  100 earned media in local newspapers across Ohio – including letters to the editor, op-eds, and articles. This is a direct result of 26 editorial board meetings and thousands of letters sent by early care and education advocates.
•  1,000 individuals and organizations signed onto a letter urging Ohio Governor Ted Strickland to include additional state dollars in his executive budget.
•  30 advocates testified on behalf of groundWork in front of the House and Senate Finance Committees.
• Three legislative candidate forums were held in September 2006 in southeast, southwest, and northwest Ohio. More than 550 people attended to hear 20 candidates answer questions about early care and education.

Are health care issues really a necessary component of groundWork?

A key element to the success of early care and education is access to, and utilization of, low-income health care programs available to families in Ohio. Children who do not receive proper medical care in the first years of life, including immunizations, proper nutrition, and regular well-check visits, are more likely to suffer from a wide array of chronic health problems, including ear infections, asthma, obesity, poor hearing, allergies, and tooth decay.  These conditions may cause stress, fatigue, or pain that interferes with a child's cognitive and social development, thus negatively impacting school readiness.

According to the 2004 Ohio Family Health Survey, there are currently 120,753 children in Ohio who are uninsured.  In fact, as of 2002, 23.2% of Ohio's children had never had a well-baby exam - a critical preventative medical assessment. Moreover, one out of every five two-year-olds in Ohio has not been immunized.  This lack of healthcare utilization and access has serious implications for the future of Ohio's children.

Where do infants and toddlers fit in to the effort?

groundWork calls for an increase in state funding for high quality early care and education for children ages birth to six, including increased funding for children ages birth to three in high-quality early care settings.  Additionally, Ohio has several health and behavioral health care programs for infants and toddlers that may benefit from groundWork. Examples of such programs include the Access to Better Care (ABC) Initiative, Help Me Grow, the Early Childhood Mental Health Initiatve, and the Nurse-Family Partnership.

Will universal pre-kindergarten eliminate our mixed-delivery system?

No. The goal of groundWork is to ensure that parents are able to provide for their own child's care and education in any appropriate setting designed to meet families' unique needs. By increasing resources in the overall mixed delivery system - public and private, for-profit and nonprofit, faith-based and secular - all providers benefit.

Where will the money go once Ohio invests in early care and education?

Without state dollars, for-profit, public, and private education and physical and behavioral health care entities in Ohio cannot provide for all children who need services. Public-private partnerships are vital to ensuring there are the necessary resources to provide parents with the tools they need to make education and health choices for their own children.

The groundWork platform is NOT about the specifics of how money will be allocated or implementation or allowable class sizes. But it IS about the big picture - increasing the state's financial support and increasing POLITICAL will surrounding young children. The campaign IS about more resources in the overall system.

Why is Early Care and Education (ECE) important for Ohio? 

Many long-term research studies have shown that young children exposed to high-quality instructional settings exhibit better language and mathematics skills, better cognitive and social skills, and better relationships with classmates than do children in lower-quality care. Subsequently, students score higher in school-readiness tests; are 40% less likely to need special education or be held back a grade; and are 70% less likely to commit a violent crime by age 18.  

What are the Economic Benefits to our Communities?

Access to ECE provides great benefits to children directly while providing economic support to parents and the state.  Generating $1.95 billion annually in gross receipts and supporting almost 57,000 jobs in Ohio, adequate investment in the ECE industry is essential to the vitality of Ohio's economy.

In Ohio, the early care and education industry generates more revenue in gross receipts than investment banking, security dealing, and corn production. In addition to supporting parents and children, ECE provides economic returns to the state through long-term reduced costs.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland found that quality early childhood programs for low-income children generate an overall 16% rate of return on investment, 12% of which is a public rate of return.  These children had much higher lifetime earnings and reduced dependence on welfare.  This translates into a significant return on investment for the state.

How Can I help?

If you believe in high quality early care and education for all of Ohio's children, it is important that you speak out on this very important issue. Talk to family, friends, church members, and co- workers to spread the support for early care and education.  Grassroots support and momentum is critical to increase Ohio's commitment to providing the tools that parents need to help raise their children.

If you would like to contribute to our groundWork with either your time or resources, please sign up on our website to receive a weekly email update, to advocate, or contact us.