High-Quality Early Care and Education Strengthens Ohio Children and Families

God created the family to be the primary place for educating a child on how he or she is to live. Values are nurtured within the family context (Dt. 6:4-9; Ps. 78:5-8; Pro. 1; Eph. 6:4; 2 Tim. 1:5). However, some parents experience more difficulty with child rearing, lacking resources or support of a spouse to raise their children on a healthy and virtuous path.

Services which strengthen children and families, such as high-quality early care and education programs, have the power to transform the lives of disadvantaged children.

In Ohio, only half of children under the age of five who are at the Federal Poverty Level have access to an early childhood program. Only 29 percent of these programs have received ratings, and only 20 percent of children enrolled are in a program that is high quality. The majority (71 percent) of children are served by programs that are not rated at all.

Research shows high-quality early learning programs can help children get a good start in life, engage parents in their children’s education, and help children grow up to raise strong families of their own. In order to ensure children have the best start in life, Ohio must improve school outcomes to promote lifelong success for Ohio’s children.

Investing in early education is necessary to help disadvantaged children live up to their God-given potential, make positive contributions to society, and someday raise strong, healthy families of their own.