It starts with early childhood

No single issue matters more for our future than education. From the first years of life on, providing children with a top-notch education and support at every stage is the best thing we can do to strengthen our middle class, our economy and our competitiveness.

For starters, we need to make the early development of our children a national priority. We know that the achievement gap develops well before kindergarten. Research on brain and child development tells us that children’s experiences during their first five years have lasting effects on their health, learning and behavior.

We also know that investments made in early childhood yield impressive returns. Studies have found that spending $1 today on early childhood can lead to savings of $1.25 to $17 down the line. Yet access to high quality early learning environments in this country varies greatly — leaving millions of children without the support they need to arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed.

To that end, we must do much more to ensure that every child has a solid foundation that prepares him or her for success. The Democratic Congress took a vital step last year by strengthening the Head Start early childhood program — improving teacher and classroom quality and enhancing comprehensive services for the program’s children and families. Congress has also enacted reforms to improve nutrition for low-income children and protect all children from lead and toxins in toys and products.

We must now build on this effort by strengthening training for early childhood educators, expanding parents’ access to affordable, quality child care and preschool, and further investing in essential programs like Head Start, Early Head Start and early intervention services for children with disabilities. And we must provide parents with the support they need when raising young children — in part by ensuring that children have access to healthcare, good nutrition and safe housing.

Next, we’ve got to make sure that when children reach kindergarten, they enter a world-class education system. Data show that students in other countries are consistently outperforming U.S. students in math and science. Only about half of our minority students can read proficiently. And we have one of the highest dropout rates in the world.

We cannot allow America’s schools to lag behind. With the right investments, incentives and commitments, we can prepare our children to become our next generation of innovators and problem solvers, to take on and create the jobs of tomorrow, and compete globally.

A much-needed overhaul of the No Child Left Behind Act marks our starting point.

It is at its core a civil rights law — promising an equal and excellent public education for all students, including minorities, students with disabilities, and English-language learners.

Today this goal remains more important than ever. But there is no question that the law in its current form isn’t working for our students, teachers or schools — and is in need of major improvements.

To create schools for a 21st century, we need an education law that is fair and flexible, while insisting on high standards and accountability for our schools. We need to provide incentives to attract top teachers to the schools and subject areas that need them most. We need to address the dropout crisis and turn around low-performing high schools. And we need to help schools modernize their facilities, so that every student can learn in a safe, healthy and state-of-the-art classroom.

A great American education system cannot be built on the cheap. After eight years of a president who has repeatedly broken his promises to schools and students, we need a new administration that will put forth bold ideas — and is committed to providing the funding needed to implement them.

Finally, we must continue our efforts to make college more accessible for all qualified students. A college degree has always been — and continues to be — the ticket to the middle class. But skyrocketing tuition prices are putting college well out of reach for too many qualified students, and leaving too many graduates feeling limited by hefty debt.

Over the past two years, this Congress has taken remarkable steps to make college an affordable reality. Last year we enacted the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which provides $20 billion in additional federal aid over the next five years — the largest effort to help students pay for college since the GI Bill, and at no cost to taxpayers.

Just last month, we enacted the Higher Education Opportunity Act, the first reauthorization of our primary higher education law in a decade. The law addresses the major obstacles students face on the path to college, from soaring tuition costs to unethical practices in the student loan industry to an overly complex federal student aid application. It ensures that our higher education programs operate in the best interests of students — not lenders or special interests.

While we’ve made tremendous progress over the past two years, this is just the beginning. At a moment when America faces an ailing economy, an energy crisis and growing threats to our global leadership, the next Congress has a critical opportunity to strengthen this country from the ground up. It starts with a meaningful investment in our children, students, teachers and schools. It won’t be easy, but with a new administration that shares this commitment, we can build a brighter future. We can — and we must — rise to the occasion.

Miller is chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.