It's back to school week for kids all over Michigan, and it bears repeating that for a lot of incoming kindergarteners - as many as one-third of them, in fact, according to a survey of Michigan kindergarten teachers last year -school will be a struggle rather than a joy.

That's because, according to those same teachers - the true experts - many won't arrive properly prepared. Some won't be able to socialize properly. Some won't be physically or emotionally ready for the demands of a classroom. Some will be behind developmentally or educationally. The concern, of course, is that children who start behind tend to stay behind. Many will require expensive special education. Others will repeat grades, another expensive proposition. Ultimately, some of those children will, down the line, become drop-outs or worse.

But it doesn't have to be that way, of course. We know that early childhood offerings - quality child care, preschool, prenatal care and more - work, and increasingly people, including business people, are recognizing that.

As David Joos, chairman of the board of CMS Energy and board chairman of Business Leaders for Michigan, wrote this past weekend in Crain's Detroit Business: 

"There are countless benefits — both short term and long term — associated with investing in our youngest learners so they'll be prepared to join the workforce of tomorrow and take over as leaders. As the chairman of a Fortune 500 company that relies heavily on technology, I understand how rapidly the work world is changing and the training employees will need to keep pace. Consider that 39 percent of the employees in today's Michigan workforce are performing jobs that require at least some college education. Soon that number will grow to 75 percent of all workers. Early childhood development programs lay the foundation that starts children on the path toward a college education."

Look for a link to the full piece on the front of our website soon.