Improve Early Childhood Education: Get the Parents Involved
There has been a lot in the news lately about high-quality preschool education. Last year the Head Start budget cuts that came by way of sequestration nearly crippled the early childhood education program, causing many facilities to shut down, while low-income children and their families across the country suffered. President Obama has called on Congress again and again to help local state governments pay for high-quality preschool education – not just any early learning program, but quality learning that is offered at Head Start programs. This is not a new request. The call for high-quality education for children under the age of five has been called for by researchers and advocates who have studied the positive effects of Head Start programs on low-income children who need it most.
What Makes Head Start Programs High-Quality?
There are many different early childhood education programs available nationwide. Private schools, free programs supported by local school districts and state programs as well. A classroom or program that qualifies as high-quality should espouse certain methods, educational services, programs and hire well-trained and well-paid teachers. Unfortunately, all of those things cost money and with the recent round of Head Start budget cuts, many programs are fighting just to stay open and cannot afford to increase expenditures.
Early childhood education should be safe, nurturing, challenging and embrace other important essentials during this stage of development, including nutrition, healthcare and dental care. Head Start programs are so successful because they keep the focus on those primary areas, reducing staff and available spots for students rather than compromise the quality of the services that they provide to the community. This is why it is so important for school administrators to lower supply costs and reduce their budget so they can continue offering a high-quality education to their students and open as many spots as they can to help other needy low-income families in the area.
How Families Benefit from Head Start Programs
When people think about early childhood education, they generally think that it’s all about the child. While that is important enough on its own, there should be other benefits that help the entire family improve their situation. Because Head Start programs focus on low-income families, many of the parents also need help in the areas of education and training to help them build better careers that will get their family into a better financial situation. Careers in the healthcare industry are just one of the areas that these programs focus on, providing parents with the skills they need to stop struggling and start thriving.
In addition to classes that offer occupational training, there are also classes that help parents improve communication skills and boost self-esteem, helping them to enter or re-enter the work force or educational world to better their lives. These skills don’t just help them fix their financial struggles, they also help them to be better parents. In the end, everything that these early childhood education and Head Start programs do is to better the child and the family, which essentially helps the entire country as a whole. Parents become more involved in the kids’ lives and kids see a parent that is challenging themselves, going back to school and working hard to provide for the family.
Nutritional education is also a big part of Head Start programs, which are essential to the health and well-being of the families that participate. Every time there are Head Start budget cuts, families who are in need of quality nutrition for their children through the early childhood education program during the day and proper nutritional training and education so they can better feed their families get hurt. The programs introduce hard-working families to programs that they can use to pay for healthier foods, obtain emergency gas cards, get discounts on utility costs and get the help of a life coach to help get them on track. There is oh so much more to high-quality preschool education than providing a learning experience for children under the age of five.
How SupplySource Plus Can Help
Head Start programs have faced a real challenge in recent years and with the economy still struggling, chances are it won’t go away soon. In order to keep the doors of early childhood education programs open and work within the parameters of the Head Start budget cuts, administrators need to get smart about learning how to lower supply costs without compromising the services they provide. SupplySource Plus conducts a thorough audit of the program’s current spending and ordering for office supplies, administrative services and even food costs, to help Head Start programs save as much as 10-35 percent each year.
SupplySource Plus is a FREE program designed to help non-profit organizations save money and reduce overall costs in order to provide more and better services to program participants. With the Head Start budget cuts always looming in the background and the possibility of sequestration occurring again at budget time, Head Start programs need to be proactive and find new ways to lower supply costs, food costs and reduce their overhead. The SupplySource team will analyze your spending, connect you with vetted vendors who will give you the lowest price possible for the items that you purchase on a regular basis and can even help you with one-time purchases, giving the purchasing power of a large corporation to even the smallest local educational facility.
How to Join SupplySource Plus
All you need to do to join SupplySource Plus is to give us a call. Our services are always free to non-profit human service organizations like Head Start and our team will be happy to help get you on the road to lowering your costs across the board. Call us today at 866-248-4520 to find more about our ability to lower supply costs and help Head Start programs and other early childhood education services save money.
