·         Early childhood development programs, like Smart Start, stimulate our state’s economic growth by allowing parents to stay o the job and be a part of an educated workforce, and by ultimately supplying our state with more productive adult citizens and employees now and in the future.

·         In 2007, parents of children in regulated child care earned $6.4 billion to support North Carolina’s economy.

·         According to the Division of Child Development’s August 2008 report, some 36,000 subsidy-eligible children across the state are on the waiting list, unable to access care. This means that parents eligible to work have to stay home, contributing to an even higher unemployment rate and less money distributed into our economy.

·         Smart Start partnerships would like to highlight the need for continued investment in early child care and education, and improvement in the payment rates for child care providers.

·         Budget cuts for Smart Start have a significant impact on the programs and services that NC partnerships are able to offer, and the quality of care in the state’s centers suffers as well.

·         The High/Scope Perry Preschool study released in Washington, D.C., conducted by the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation provides irrefutable scientific evidence that high quality child care has a lasting positive impact on society.

·         The study, which followed participants until age 40, showed that low-income three and four-year olds that participated in high quality child care programs were more likely to graduate from high school and have and maintain jobs as well as commit fewer crimes. This documented a return on investment of public funds of $17 to every $1 spent. According to the study, those that participated in high-quality care were far more likely to:

1.     Graduate from High School (65% vs. 45%) particularly females (84% vs. 32%);

2.     Outperform various intellectual and language tests during their early childhood years, on school achievement tests between ages 9 and 14, and on literacy tests at ages 19 and 27;

3.     Be employed at age 40 (76% vs. 62%);

4.     Have a median annual earnings more than $5,000 higher than the non-program group ($20,800 vs. $15,300);

5.     Own a home;

6.     Have a savings account (76% vs. 50%);

7.     Commit fewer crimes (36% vs. 55% arrested five times or more; and

8.     Not be arrested for violent crimes (32% vs. 48%), property crimes (36% vs. 58%), or drug crimes (14% vs. 34%).

·         In 1993, then Governor Jim Hunt created Smart Start to raise the quality of child care across the state for all children. When Smart Start began, 65% of all young children were in child care, but NC had the worst child care standards in the nation and the worst record in the nation for age-appropriate immunizations.

·         Today, NC has one of the nation’s best comprehensive early care and education systems. Overall, child care quality has improved, with over 70% of the state’s young children now enrolled in high quality care.

• NC has remained in the top 3 for age appropriate immunizations for over 3 years and now over 82% of child care teachers have had some college education.