What's the most important thing we can do to make sure every child in Hawai'i is prepared to succeed in school?

Overwhelming research shows the value of providing quality education experiences for children well before kindergarten. Children who get a head start on learning in a pre-K classroom environment tend to do better not only when they start kindergarten, but all the way through their college years as well.

There is no question that pre-K education makes a big and measurable difference. Unfortunately, here in Hawai'i, as in most of the nation, there are still many young children whose parents cannot afford the quality pre-K education their children need.

The good news is that we have an opportunity to change this, and to help all of Hawai'i's children improve their academic performance. The Hawai'i Educational Policy Center, under the auspices of Act 151, is convening a task force comprised of policymakers and early childhood education professionals to give direction to the future of early care and education in Hawai'i.

It's an exciting opportunity and one that could very well determine whether Hawai'i's children will succeed or fail in the future.

Most states, including Hawai'i, spend dramatically less than what is needed to ensure a quality early childhood education. Hawai'i invests less than $1,000 in education every year, per child, for children up to 5 years old.

In stunning contrast, we invest well more than $5,000 annually for children from ages 6 to 18 and more than $3,000 for students ages 18 to 23.

This under-investment in a child's critical early education years is not consistent with what we know about child development. The time of most rapid development and vulnerability is the time in which fewest resources are provided. At the very time we should be making our greatest education investment — when children are undergoing their most rapid mental, physical and social development — is when the fewest resources are being provided.

Making a proper level of investment in early education will not be cheap. If Hawai'i were to increase the funding per child for all 0-5-year-olds by just $2,000 per year, the tab could run $160 million. What's needed is for Hawai'i to establish priorities and develop a long-range plan to properly fund programs for young children.

Setting a goal of fully funding a comprehensive early childhood education system by 2015, just 10 years from now, is doable. It is also critical if we want to see our children succeed in school and later life.

It is worth noting that America lags behind most industrialized nations when it comes to investing in programs for young children. In France, nearly all children from 3 to 5 years of age attend publicly funded preschools, and the teachers in those schools are paid far better — and are better qualified — than teachers in American preschools.

Almost all 4-year-olds in Britain, Luxembourg and the Netherlands go to public school. Preschool attendance rates in Greece, Spain, Germany, Denmark and Italy range from 70 percent to 90 percent, as opposed to less than 50 percent in the United States.

When investing in early care and education, it is important to remember that quality matters. The very positive research results so often quoted on the effects of early childhood education are, for the most part, based on work in very-high- quality programs in which teachers are well educated, and resources for professional development, materials and other educational needs are available.

We cannot invest cheaply in early childhood education and expect the kinds of excellent results we see elsewhere. For example, we must have a highly qualified teacher in every pre-K education classroom. Policymakers must insist that programs meet high standards, and that they have the financial resources necessary to do so.

Does Hawai'i have the resources needed to invest well in early childhood education? One can argue that investing in the education of young children will actually save money in the long term, and there is research to support this. Policymakers will, however, need to accept that many of the benefits of early childhood education are long term and may not be readily apparent by the next election.

But I also argue that scarcity of resources is not so much the issue as is distribution of resources. How we choose to invest our wealth will determine the future of our nation and the world.

Investing in the care and education of our young children must be among the highest priorities for any state or nation that seeks to perpetuate a vibrant economy, peace and justice for its citizens.

The time has come to create a coherent, comprehensive and properly resourced early childhood education system led by a state entity with real authority. The time has come to make a public investment in our children's future.

I look forward to working with Hawai'i's Educational Policy Center, along with others, to build a model early childhood education system that's the envy of the nation. With quality early childhood education services in place — that are available to everyone, not just those with the ability to pay — we will be able to say we are truly on our way to ensuring every child in Hawai'i succeeds, both in the classroom, and well after graduation.

This article is one in an occasional series prepared by Educator's Voice, a nonprofit, volunteer coalition designed to foster debate and public policy change regarding Hawai'i's public education system. Educator's Voice is comprised of some of Hawai'i's top education experts, including Patricia Hamamoto, Randy Hitz, Joan Husted, Sharon Mahoe, Al Nagasako, Roger Takabayashi and Robert Witt. For more information, see www.hawaii.edu/voice.