Blog 7-- Texas should invest in Early Education

Texas should invest more into its children by funding statewide pre-K programs, which simulate regular school hours for students and parents. This may be an expensive endeavor but it is worth if it Texas wishes to get its education numbers up. As of late, Texas has ranked 43^rd out of the 50 states for education grades Pre-K to 12. (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/article/Texas-ranks-43rd-among-states-in-national-6750691.php) Texas has low success rate because we do not start our children off right, by having state-funded programs to ensure small classrooms and quality education from the beginning of a student’s start the state can turn these numbers around.  

            One benefit of a state-funded Pre-K program would be lengthened the hours of the time the students stay at school. Rather than half days the children will be expected to simulate regular 1^st through 12^th hours, meaning parents would not have to arrange for early mid day pick up of children under 6. Not only would this take some stress off the parents who may be trying to work full time but it will also prepare the children for the entire school day they are expected to complete. Of course in the Pre-K program, the students would have naps and breaks from the educational work, the concept is to get the children use to the idea of being on campus for so many hours at a time. This will help build the children’s stamina, which will help with focus later on in school.

Having a state-funded pre-K program will also allow students of lower income families to enter into Pre-K even if their parents cannot afford to send them to a private Pre-K. This option will level the playing field of education for families of all incomes. If families of all incomes can start their children off on the right foot it raises the chances of ending the cycle of poverty.

            State funded Pre-K programs have been successful in other states such as Michigan.  “According to the Brookings Institution, Michigan has the only state-funded preschool evaluation that follows students' paths from pre-K to high school graduation. Students participating in the Great Start Readiness Program outperformed their peers in comparison groups, demonstrating school success indicators during kindergarten, second grade, middle school and high school graduation.” (https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/02/27/texas-look-michigan-ways-address-early-childhood-education) If Texas follows Michigan’s example and give way to the budget tug-of-war and allow funds to be funneled towards full-time state funded Pre-K program Texas will see more successful children and more contributing members to society.

VI- Commentary

I agree with T the author of  "Sweet tea and Politics" blog and their article http://sweetteaandpolitics.blogspot.com about Texas minimum wage. The minimum wage in Texas has been the same since I started having to work full time and I have witnessed the consequences not only on the employee side but on the managers and employers side as well. The state not choosing to raise the minimum wage affects employers too, making it more difficult to attract qualified and worthwhile employees for positions where the minimum wage is the normal starting point.  Not only is it hard to attract qualified and worthwhile employers it is even harder to keep them with minimum wage. Often times employers find they hire someone who will work for a few weeks up to a couple of months and then never show up again. It’s a pattern of jumping from one minimum wage job to another and since they do not offer competitive pay employees look for other perks to keep them around like easy work, phone and break times, free stuff, and will often drop on a current employer without notice if another minimum wage job is available. There are pros to raising the minimum wage, not only attracting more qualified and all around better employees for employers but also an economic stimulus. Capitalism thrives off the cycle of money earned and money spent, if Texas was to increase the minimum wage that would give citizens of Texas more money to spend, money earned is money spent which will continue the growth of capitalism.  Once more, if we consider the group of individuals who are under the poverty line and enrolled in government programs to help them survive, raising the minimum wage would not only benefit the people surviving in poverty but in turn help the government programs spend less. If people have more money coming in from their employer to support themselves and their families they may become less depend on the government.