Your Opinion: AIM supports amendment on early childhood education

Dear Editor:

Since 1919, Associated Industries of Missouri has been "the voice of Missouri business." We back policies that will grow our economy. We know if Missouri employers are thriving, Missourians will gain access to greater job opportunities. Preparing our future workforce for quality jobs starts before traditional education. For this reason, we strongly endorse Amendment 3, the Early Childhood Health and Education Amendment.

Currently, Missouri faces an early childhood education funding crisis. In 2014, only 3 percent of our 4-year-olds were enrolled in state-funded Pre-K. Compare that to 60 percent of 4-year-olds in Iowa, and 76 percent in Oklahoma. In fact, we trail every border state.

This isn't just a disservice to our families and students. It's a disservice to our entire state. Studies have shown early childhood education can greatly improve a person's future employment prospects and save significant taxpayer dollars in the long run.

Put simply: investing in kids at an early age leads to a stronger workforce in the years ahead.

As an organization devoted to strengthening the Missouri's business environment, we want every young person to receive the best education possible, ensuring that future employers will find a talented workforce right here in Missouri. That benefits our citizens with rewarding careers and our taxpayers with the savings realized through less spending on the government programs needed when people aren't working.

Amendment 3 is also the right way to address our early childhood education funding gap. At AIM we aren't interested in supporting measures that may sound good on paper but don't actually get results. Amendment 3 recognizes that while our state desperately needs new funding for early childhood education, there is a common-sense solution right in front of us: an incremental increase to the cigarette tax. This will bring in $300 million annually, enabling access to early childhood health and education programs across the state.

An equally smart policy is providing this funding via constitutional amendment. By doing this through the Missouri Constitution, we will ensure the funding is "locked up" and must go to classrooms, teachers and students. This removes the funding stream from the budget process and protects against those funds being used for other purposes.

If we are serious about growing Missouri's economy and ensuring that the high-paying jobs of the future are found right here, we have to put in place proactive measures. We fully support Amendment 3, and we urge all Missourians to join us.

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