Sample letter to legislators for OCDEL programs
You can find contact information for your legislators at http://paprom.convio.net/story.
Dear [Legislator]:
I am writing to urge you to support continue investment in Pennsylvania’s early childhood
education initiatives. I believe that programs such as Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, Keystone
STARS, Child Care Works, Nurse-Family Partnership and Early Intervention are vital to our
child’s future success in school and in life, and that every child’s success helps secure a brighter
future for Pennsylvania.
I realize that there are always dozens of worthy programs that could use additional funding every
year, but I believe that investing in quality early education should be a priority. Quality early
education:
 Promotes child development
 Strengthens families
 Reduces school costs in special education and remediation and provides K-12 schools
with students ready to learn and to achieve
 Reduces community costs in criminal justice, public assistance, and lost taxes
 Provides communities with a skilled workforce
 Improves Pennsylvania’s ability to attract high quality jobs and boost our economy.
The bottom line is that quality early education isn’t just an educational strategy, it’s a workforce
and economic development strategy.
According to the Office of Child Development and Early Learning, children in 69% of
Pennsylvania’s counties are at moderate-high to high risk of school failure. There are children in
every county that are at risk of failing in school. Quality early education can offset these risks so
that our children can succeed. In 2007-2008, only 22% of Pennsylvania’s young children under
age five were served by publicly-funded high quality early education programs.
[Share here your experiences with OCDEL programs and how they benefit children and families
in your community:
 What OCDEL programs do you participate in? For example, if you are a Keystone STARS
program who is also participating in PA Pre-K Counts, tell the legislator how Keystone
STARS helps you improve the quality of your early childhood program so that you can
provide high quality pre-kindergarten through PA Pre-K Counts. Here are some quick
descriptions of each program that you can also include:
o
Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts – Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts provides high quality
pre-kindergarten services to approximately 11,800 3 & 4 year olds in the
commonwealth so that they can enter school ready to learn and succeed in
school and in life.
o
o
o
o
Keystone STARS – Keystone STARS is a continuous quality improvement
program and rating system for early learning and school-age programs and has
reversed a 10-year trend of declining quality in child care.
Child Care Works Subsidized Child Care Program – Child Care Works
provides working families with assistance for child care costs and makes it
possible for child care programs to serve children whose families could not
otherwise afford care.
Early Intervention - Early Intervention helps children from birth to age five with
disabilities/ developmental delays and their families.
Nurse Family Partnership – The Pennsylvania Nurse Family Partnership (NFP)
helps low-income, first-time parents experience healthy pregnancies, learn how
to take good care of their babies, and make plans for the future.
 How do children and families benefit from these programs? How have these programs
improved school readiness skills, social/emotional development, helped parents become
more involved in their child’s early learning?
 Are there families in your community that are eligible for these programs but cannot
access services? If you have a waiting list for an OCDEL program that you participate in, for
example, tell the legislator how many families are waiting for services. If you don’t have
specific numbers, you can give them anecdotal information.
 You may also want to provide a testimonial from a parent that appreciates receiving
services from an OCDEL program. Again, it can be a direct quote or anecdotal, i.e.,
“Dozens of parents have told me that PA Pre-K Counts has made their children excited to
come to school.” ]
Please let me know your position on future investment in Pennsylvania’s early childhood
programs.
Thank you for your consideration,