All Miami-Dade children deserve a good start in life | Opinion

We two go back a long way, but our most significant story begins two decades ago.

It is the beginning of 1999. One of us had just declared “The Year of the Child” in Miami-Dade County. The other of us had just retired as Miami Herald publisher to devote his energies on getting children off to a good start in school and life.

That led in March 1999 to:

- Three days of strategic planning focused on how to do best in the crucial early learning years for children.

- A summer of 21 community meetings to ask parents what would most help their children.

- Then — 20 years ago this very day — the “Mayor’s Children Summit.” More than 4,500 Miami-Dade residents (including Gov. Jeb Bush) came from every corner of the community to decide what would give children a better chance to succeed in school and in life.

We went into all that knowing that 85 percent of brain growth occurs by the age of 3, that 30 percent of children start formal school behind (with many of them quickly getting further behind), that if we ever invested a dollar wisely in those earliest years, it would save seven dollars or more that would not need to be spent on remediation as well as police, prosecution and prison.

We believed that all children deserve the fullest possible chance to fulfill their potential. We knew that children needed to grow in many ways — cognitively, socially, emotionally, developmentally and spiritually. We knew that every child needs the best possible blend of high-quality education and healthcare, as well as love and nurturing and knowledgeable parents and caregivers. We knew where we were headed and knew it would take longer than we would like (and it has). We knew that building a real movement for children would speak to the very future of Miami-Dade, Florida and America.

Public policy now is moving in the right direction — not fast enough, to be sure, but definitely moving. What more, then, must come to pass?

- The people of Miami-Dade passed, overwhelmingly, a dedicated funding source for early intervention and prevention. This very year The Children’s Trust will invest $150 million on behalf of our community’s children.

- The people of Florida passed, overwhelmingly, a constitutional amendment making available free prekindergarten for every 4 year old.

- Early Learning Coalitions came into being — now 30 of them covering all 67 counties, each with a collaborative commitment to quality “school readiness.”

- We had just 17 accredited (a designation of higher quality) childcare sites in Miami-Dade County. Today, there are more than 400 and a better understanding by parents, business and policymakers about the difference a quality preschool can make in a child’s education,

- Back then, more than 800,000 Florida children had no health insurance. Today that number is a half-million fewer. (Still, 325,000 children without health insurance is 325,000 too many.)

- Tens of thousands of immigrant children — each perfectly lawful — couldn’t receive Medicaid-enabled health care insurance until each was in this country for five years. It took years to get the Legislature to change the requirement to a year. Now, those tens of thousands of children have a much better chance to be healthy.

We remain far from the “promised land” for children in our community and state, but are considerably closer than we were.

This, and more, remain to be confronted and overcome:

- An unacceptable 40 percent of our children depart third grade still unable to read at minimally proficient levels.

- Tens of thousands of children — in Miami-Dade alone — need health insurance.

- Genuine quality is so often lacking in Florida’s semi-system of early care and education. We must increase investment in Florida’s prekindergarten program and accompany this with comprehensive child assessments and professional development for teachers that help children achieve the best possible futures.

- Thousands remain on the waiting list of children 0-5 years of age eligible to participate in a “school readiness” program. More money would reduce that list significantly.

- Coordinated services to support families and children with special needs remain far too sparse.

- The wisest businesses — family-friendly businesses — would allow parents time or flexibility to be present for their children.

For the future of children — for the future of Florida — nothing could be more important than to insist on progress that speaks to all families, all children. It is, yes, a moral issue; it is, just as important, a practical issue.

Dave Lawrence Jr. is the retired publisher of the Miami Herald and chair of The Children’s Movement of Florida. Alex Penelas was the executive mayor of Miami-Dade from 1996-2004. He is currently running for mayor of Miami-Dade again.

This story was originally published September 30, 2019 at 4:00 AM.