PRESS RELEASE: Early Learning Investments Provide Strong Boost to Maine Economy, Business Leaders Say

READ THE REPORT: Strengthening Maine Businesses through Investments in Early Care and Education

Early care and education programs provide $180 million in economic activity for Maine, employ over 10,000 workers and improve future workforce

BANGOR, ME (June, 1, 2011) – Maine business leaders at a Bangor early education center today discussed how state investments in early care and education provide an unexpectedly strong boost to local businesses and play an important role in helping Maine recover from the economic recession.

Participating in the news conference at the Head Start Center at Eastern Maine Community college were John Bragg, president of N.H. Bragg and Sons; Arthur Comstock, owner of AACOM Business Consulting; Jerry Whalen, vice president of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems; and Susan Gates, National Director of America’s Edge, a business leaders organization.

The business leaders cited a new report produced by America’s Edge, showing that investments in early care and education are generating immediate sales of local goods and services, creating jobs and aiding in long-term economic security.

“Maine’s early learning investments are actually generating more sales of local goods and services from in-state businesses than any other economic sector,” said Whalen.  “That is a higher generation of economic activity than investments in transportation, construction, and retail and wholesale trade.”

Whalen referred to the report that found that for every $1 invested in early care and education in Maine, $1.78 is generated in total spending within the state, a better return than funding for transportation ($1.68), construction ($1.67), and wholesale trade ($1.64). The early learning sector even performs better than the farming, forest, fishing and hunting sector ($1.71).

“Real economic development for Maine requires that we strengthen our communities and our businesses,” said Whalen. “A proven way to do that is building and protecting high-quality early learning in our state.”

Also included in the report is research documenting the long-term economic impact of quality early learning programs.  According to the report, the global marketplace will require businesses to seek employees with advanced hard skills in math, reading and writing as well as the increasingly important “soft” skills like communication, collaboration and critical thinking. The U.S. Department of Education is cautioning that 60 percent of jobs created in the 21st century will require skills that only 20 percent of the American workforce currently has.

The study cites research showing children who participate in quality early learning programs do better in math and reading; develop the social and emotional skills that transform into those important soft skills; have higher graduation rates; enter the workforce with higher skill levels, and earn more as adults.

Maine’s early care and education sector employs more than 10,000 people in the state, including administrators, teachers and child care workers. Operating costs associated with early childhood services – wages, facility rentals and supplies – generate sales outside of the early learning sector, providing a significant economic boost in their immediate communities, according to the report. Research from the Governor’s Economic Summit shows that the early care and education sector in Maine currently generates $180 million in economic activity in the sales of local goods and services by Maine businesses.

“We must start before that first day of kindergarten if kids are going to enter school ready to succeed and ultimately graduate,” said Bragg. “High-quality early education provides our youngest children with the foundation they will need for success in school and as adults.”

The business leaders were particularly concerned that proposals have been made in Congress to cut more than $1 billion from these programs. The America’s Edge report cautions that just as $1.78 in total economic activity is generated by every dollar spent on early care and education programs, budget cuts would reduce sales from local businesses and detract from the state’s economy by the same amount.

“Cutting early care and education is not only a loss for our children, but also a loss in sales for many local Maine businesses,” Comstock said. “This is a lose-lose strategy.”

The three urged the state’s Congressional delegation to maintain 2011 funding levels for critical early learning programs like Head Start, Early Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant, the major federal supports for early learning.

“We must ensure that every dollar we spend is spent on what we know will work,” said Comstock. “Few investments make as much sense for our children’s future and Maine businesses’ bottom lines as investment in high-quality early care and education.”