By Teri Banas

WIXOM –The state’s gubernatorial candidates affirmed their support of early childhood programs Sunday night in the campaign's first and only televised debate.

Early childhood programs and funding were among the subjects tackled by Republican Rick Snyder and Democrat Virg Bernero during the one-hour debate hosted by the Center for Michigan. 

One of the event’s two moderators, Detroit Free Press editorial page editor Stephen Henderson, asked the candidates if they would support increasing funding for pre-K and other early education programs for children 0 to 5, and if so, how would they pay for it?

Snyder answered by referring to a United Way-led effort in Sioux City, S.D., that he took part in while he was CEO of the Gateway Corporation. He called the “Success by 6” program a public-private partnership and a “fabulous program” that did “fabulous work on helping kids in that age group succeed.” (“Success by 6” is a national United Way initiative in collaboration with business leaders, local agencies and county governments.)

Snyder spoke favorably of state government taking a coordinating role in such public-private work and by “work(ing) through our communities” to make that happen.

He said resources would need to be identified, but gave no details.

Bernero said science, not politics, provides the impetus for investing in the zero to five years, which he called vital and crucial.

“It matters. It makes a difference. There’s a reason for us to get in there and make sure that children have great care, that they have preschool in that zero to five period.”

The science he referred to was the landmark HighScope Perry Preschool Study, which studied 123 low income Ypsilanti 3- and 4-years-olds. Researchers tracked them through the age of 40 and determined those who received a quality preschool education had better life and work success than those who didn’t.

“We know from the Ypsilanti Perry School Project that it works,” Bernero said. “We need to invest in it. Every dollar that we put into that has a payoff down the road. It will be a priority.”

Snyder and Bernero also spoke in favor of early childhood programs at the inaugural Sandbox Party Convention, held on the campus of Michigan State University in August. Six thousand people were in attendance.

Full debate answers by Mr. Snyder and Mr. Bernero were as follows:

Question: Mr. Snyder, do you support increasing funding for pre-K and other early education programs for children 0 to 5, especially for those in low-income families? And how would you pay for it?

Snyder: “Well, we talked about that a little bit before. It is something we would have to find the resources for. Before we start talking about the government doing that, though, I’d like to take leadership about how we can (involve) public private partnerships. That’s been my success. I go back to my days even in Sioux City when I was at Gateway. They had a fabulous program, and I was part of it at the United Way called ‘Success by Six.’ It was a public- private partnership that came out of Minneapolis. They did fabulous work on helping kids in that age group succeed. Before we look at the government, again, showing up with the people in Lansing saying, ‘We’re here to help,’ lets figure out how we can work through our communities and have the government play a coordinating (role).”

Bernero: “Look, again, this is science and not politics. We know how vital those zero to five years are. Those are crucial years. It matters. It makes a difference. There’s a reason for us to get in there and make sure that children have great care, that they have preschool in that zero to five period. That whole zero to five continuum, from the time they leave the hospital, we need to pay better attention to that. We know from the Ypsilanti Perry School Project that it works. We need to invest in it. Every dollar that we put into that has a payoff down the road. It will be a priority. We will make it a priority.”