I read with interest the opinion piece in (Wednesday’s) OA by Mona Charen about the PRE-K broken promises. I could have told her that. Studies have been done for years that have shown any gains by young children academically participating in pre-k programs are lost by the eighth grade. To me, there is not much difference in President Biden’s push for pre-k in his Build Back Better program and the efforts that were put forth in President Lyndon Johnsons Great Society program that featured HeadStart for pre-school children back in the 1960’s. When are we going to learn from our history and use it productively to make meaningful changes to protect the children and to help parents improve their ability to support their families? If we need childcare for preschooler’s so parents can work, let’s call it that and put our money into daycare efforts by giving parents help or giving tax credits to businesses for providing day care. Maybe then our school systems could concentrate on educating our kids better than they are currently doing! On another subject, when is Odesa going to quit kicking the can down the road and step up to the plate to support our school system and its needs to create a first-class learning environment for our children?
Charles Cotten
Odessa
