Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles Remarks National Head Start Conference April 23q 8:3O a.m., Washinaton Convention and Trade Center, Seattle (Note: This is not a transcript and is subject to change.) Good morning and thank you, Janet Anderson (president, Region 10 Head Start), for that warm introduction. It is indeed an honor and privilege to be here. I come to you today as the holder of two jobs: parent, and governor. Since I've been doing the former 18 years and the latter just a little over three, you'd think I'd know something about kids. But on the issue of what kind of father I am, according to my three teenagers, the jury's still out. What's common to both my jobs is that I've tried to be an advocate for children. Frankly, championing children is politically safe these days. That's true not only in this room, but all across America. As a rookie governor attending my first meeting of the National Governors' Association meeting in 1995. I remember the theme then was children's issues. That meeting was chaired by Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a true champion of children. And every year since. under both Republican and Democratic governors, the NGA's annual focus has been children. Championing children. however safe today, hasn't always been popular. I believe in large part due to the courageous leadership in this room, a major tide of change has swept over our country. Think back 25 years ago to 1973 when this organization was founded. Then, the notion of government playing a major role in the lives of pre-school children was a pretty revolutionary idea. The early 197Os was an era of distrust and disillusionment - Watergate, Vietnam, the killing fields of Cambodia, the Cold War, the drug culture. There were misgivings about LBJ's Great Society; doubts about the effectiveness of the War on Poverty; fears about the disintegration of the family. Yet, one beacon - Head Start - has always burned bright. And all it has represented these 33 years has survived: strong families, parental responsibility, love, care, nutrition, and how the doors to opportunity later in life are opened at the youngest age. These principles resonated thanks to the tireless, relentless championing of you in this room. As a result of your work, the quality of life for millions of Americans has improved dramatically. I can personally vouch that's the case in Alaska, where Head Start is alive and well across a territory one-fifth the size of the rest of the country. Today, Head Start programs in 92 Alaska communities serve about 32-hundred children. There are nearly 6OO Alaskans working in Head Start programs around the state, about half of whom are or were Head Start parents. We have a great contingent of Head Start leaders from Alaska here today. I am proud of the work they do every day - and I'd ask them to stand. But the recognition and thanks all of you deserve is only part of my purpose here today. Faced with decreasing public budgets, less federal involvement and fewer than SO percent of qualified American children receiving Head Start, what is the future of this extraordinarily successful program? How can we reach out and engage support to build upon and expand this initiative of early intervention and prevention? What is the right number of children served? Not SO percent, not SO percent, not GO percent - but serving all children who need early development assistance in their lives. My experience as governor has led me to conclude that we have a moral, legal and financial obligation to raise the level of these services to a new and higher standard. We need a new philosophical mandate - there must be an over-riding public interest in every single child realizing their full potential rather than being a victim and victimizing society. We've all seen both. As governor and as a parent, I'm filled with pride whether it's reading "The Cat in the Hat" at Dr. Suess's birthday to a fourth grade class or seeing a young Alaskan start their first job. Too often, the painful alternative is brought forcefully to my attention. Just last weekend in a remote western Alaska village, a 14-year-old making the transition from foster care to adoption shot and murdered his 9-year-old playmate. Last month in another village, a 13-year-old boy shot his mother to death and wounded his father. I visited that father and his family. A year ago in a tragedy that shook Alaska, a 1 6-year-old student walked into a rural Alaska high school with a rifle, killing a classmate and the school principal. Again, I consoled a family, a school, a community. And the list goes on. Sadly, these cases are probably not unlike those in your own states. The Bible tells us: "For what so ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." And scientific studies graphically document this. Anger, pain, physical and emotional starvation - acts beyond our worst nightmares - are inflicted upon the youngest, innocent members of our society. We are creating human time bombs, ticking away to explode in hate and violence. Yet, we also know what it takes to nuture the human spirit to unlimited potential - beginning life with love, care and intellectual stimulation. What road do we choose? For too long, Americans have been hesitant in embracing quality programs for all our youngest children - those from birth to about age 5. I believe that hesitation rests not in mean-spirited stinginess. Rather it rests in the heartfelt belief that young children are the responsibility of the parent and the public has no purpose or right of interference, until unfortunately, the damage is done. Certainly, no one would dispute the responsibility of parents and families to be involved in the lives of these youngest children. I believe the best child safety and protection system is a strong family. I also maintain that the Head Start philosophy - parental involvement and education combined with early childhood development - reinforces a strong family. It doesn't contradict it. Quality early childhood programs supports the primary role of the family, just as traditional K through 12 public education - which has long served as a foundation of this nation's progress - supports families. The question is: how do we convince the rest of America to extend that same relationship between traditional education and families to quality childhood programs at the earliest years? The answer is: look at the evidence. First, does this investment reduce the future cost of government? Democrats and Republicans all join the chorus in calling for decreasing the size of government. What's more relevant is where the reduction takes place. The shape of any budget is just as important as its size. Who would not want to see our commitment to education grow? Who would not want to see the staggering costs of prisoners and welfare to go down? In Alaska, and I suspect in many other states, the fastest growing demand for services are prisons and juvenile detention systems. At $36,000 a year per adult inmate- and $60,000 for a juvenile. these are extraordinarily expensive, dead-end programs. Unfortunately in Alaska. we spend nearly as much on corrections as we do on higher education. And I will continue to ensure that crimes are dealt with hashly and severely. But don't we also have an obligation to identify the cause and address prevention? Another of the most expensive programs in government is public assistance. The relationship between education and getting a job is clear. What may be less clear is the direct correlation between Head Start and the probability of ending up a burden to society - in jail, without an education or a job. Last week, we invited to Alaska nationally known researcher Dr. Larry Schweinhart of Michigan's High Scope Perry Preschool 27-year study. He delivered a simple message. Adults born in poverty who attend a high-quality, active learning preschool program, have half as many criminal arrests, have higher earnings and property wealth, and have a greater commitment to marriage. He concludes that during their lives, the public receives more than $7 in return for every dollar invested in early childhood programs. There is plenty of other evidence that investments in our children today will pay dividends for all of us tomorrow. Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner's "I Am Your Child" campaign, shows the ~~ scientific data that a child's brain thrives with love, nurturing and positive stimulation. The second reason I believe in the partnership between families and early childhood programs is public safety. The new book, "Ghosts from the Nursery," graphically shows how a predisposition to violent behavior is "hardwired" into the brain from the earliest age. It compellingly demonstrates - quote, "the poisonous effect that neglect, abuse, trauma, injury and toxicity have in the first 33 months of life." one in 2O children born today will spend some part of his or her adult life in jail. Those who fight crime in the trenches every day understand the connection between abuse, neglect and crime. They believe the best crime prevention tool is investing in children. 3 1 That also was the response of 9O percent of police chiefs across the nation in a recent survey. They said the best way to reduce crime is by - quote - "fully funding Head Start for infants and toddlers, preventing child abuse, providing parenting training for high-risk families, improving schools and providing after-school programs and mentoring." In Alaska, we faced the terrible problems of many other states. Skyrocketing violent juvenile crime. Staggering increases in child abuse and neglect which overwhelmed the scare resources to respond. Fifteen percent of our children without access to health care. And prevention programs struggling against long waiting lists. our answer: a bold yet simple initiative we call Smart Start - which I'm trying to sell to our Legislature today. First, our goal is imposing zero tolerance on abuse and neglect by providing the resources to respond to every report of harm to a child. We have a team approach involving Troopers, child protection workers, guardians ad [item, prosecutors, public defenders, foster parents. Second, we are extending health care to I I,OOO children of working families making too much for Medicaid and too little to afford health insurance for their kids. Finally, we are investing more in proven programs to break the cycle of violence: Head Start, Healthy Family home visits, quality day care assistance. Smart Start builds on the solid foundation laid by Alaskan Head Start pioneers. People like Marilyn Webb, Alaska.s program coordinator, and Sharon Trish, who operates the Alaska Head Start Association. There's Shirley Jackson. who runs Head Start in the Southeast village of Kake. She's worked in Head Start for 25 years, serves on the local school board and has helped every Head Start staffer - including the cook - earn child development associate's degrees. In Juneau, Leilani Knight had serious family problems when she started out as parent in the Native-run Tlingit and Haida Head Start. Now, she's the Family Wellness coordinator and a dynamic spokeswoman for community youth programs. We've also got a Head Start secret weapon, my chief of staff, Jim Ayers. He started his career as a Head Start bus driver in Oregon and later moved to Alaska to run a community action program overseeing half the Head Start programs in our state. He's a champion for kids, and for Head Start. There is one other Alaskan I want to mention joining me here today who gets up ~ ~ every day fighting for children: Community and Regional Affairs Commissioner Mike Irwin, in whose department Head Start is housed. Throughout the audience here this morning, I see pioneers - or the ultimate Alaska compliment: sourdoughs - who began with Head Start 33 years ago - who have helped better the lives of a generation of Americans. And I also see those to whom the torch of partnership is being passed - those dedicated to bettering the lives of the next generation of American children. In this room, I know we share a vision. Its purpose is good. Its urgency is real. our power is great. And, forged in the fires of idealism and tempered by the wisdom of experience, our spirit is strong. We are one family, one America - together. Now we must reach out to the hands of all Americans. In each home, each neighborhood, each village, each community in each of the SO states. Our common pledge is this: We will give our kids books, instead of guns. We will build schools, not prisons. We will extend our hand in love, not raise it in anger. We will plant the seeds of hope, not despair. We will have zero tolerance for the abuse and neglect of our children. We will - with the grace of God - break the cycle of violence. Fulfilling this pledge will not be easy, just as raising a child is not simple. As my commissioner of Health and Social Services Karen Perdue says, raising a child is not rocket science - it's far more difficult. Yet, as a distinguished man of letters once said: Difficulty is an excuse history never accepts. Thank you.