Commentary: We should invest in children before kindergarten starts

Two hunters are running from a grizzly. Al pauses and pulls off his heavy boots.

“Why waste your time?” Bob pants. “You can’t outrun a bear.”

“True,” Al replies through clenched teeth. “But I only need to outrun you.”

In this metaphor, Al represents the children of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. Bob is all the rest of the kids in America. The grizzly is any threat to our children’s prosperity, threats such as global competition, inequality and whatever comes down the pike.

Our kids need to run faster than the competition. No excuses.

But how? Scratch just about any pundit or politician and you’ll hear, “More education!”

But what can we do differently? We’ve already been flogging our schools for decades to be better. In spite of our best efforts, school test scores have settled into the common pattern, higher scores in affluent areas and lower scores in less-affluent areas.

Reading the Daily Pilot article about the perceptions some parents have in fleeing Estancia zone schools in Westside Costa Mesa to Huntington Beach schools suggests an answer (“Newport-Mesa schools, faced with fleeing families, go all-out to woo parents,” Oct. 28). The article notes that the school district is again reaching out to parents to show them how good Westside schools actually are.

But what if we could deliver “more education,” as the pundits and politicians recommend? And what if it was so good that it would not only spur Huntington Beach parents to beg to enroll their kids in Costa Mesa schools, but also young families to clamor to locate in Costa Mesa because of the schools?

This is possible, thanks to advances in early childhood education.

Perceptions are likely to change if Costa Mesa was to invest in high-quality early education, or HQEE. Imagine if Costa Mesa could afford an ideal HQEE program that begins in early childhood when neurons are forming brain connections at an astounding rate.

An early start is vital because, as a Lancet article states, “If children fail to get what they need — enough nutrition, nurturing, stimulation and a sense of security — during the most critical years of early childhood, the impact on their lives and futures is enormous.”

Costa Mesa and Newport Beach would need to support individualized HQEE programs within their own city limits, since the Newport-Mesa school district policies do not enable it to favor one school over another. Grants from sources such as foundations could augment each city’s investment.

Our children will face unparalleled challenges in the future. Cities can, and should, step up and collaborate with the school district to raise education to the next level.

Costa Mesa resident TOM EGAN is a former Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustee.