Concetta Hillman, a social worker and mother of a 7-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl, has been too busy to follow every detail of the current budget stalemate in Harrisburg. Early childhood education is one of the stalling points in passing next year's spending plan.

	Maxwell King is president of The Heinz Endowments.

What she does know is that universal preschool and full-day kindergarten are successful for children, a godsend for full-time working parents and effective tools to help the neediest families out of poverty.

Hillman is one of hundreds of working moms who have experienced high-quality early education and child care funded by the region's foundation community. She has cheered foundations' decision to concentrate on early childhood education and she has cheered other recent private efforts such as PNC Financial Services' "Grow Up Great" initiative, a breathtaking, $100-million program that Chairman and CEO Jim Rohr is directing toward helping 2.8 million children in the five-state area where PNC operates reach school readiness.

Hillman, a Pittsburgh native, moved back to Turtle Creek two years ago with her husband, Paul, after his eight-year stint in the Marine Corps. She attended the University of Pittsburgh while he paid the bills in a job that paid less than what he was earning in the military. Both would lie awake at night worrying about affording quality child care that would prepare their then preschool children for full-time education. Fortunately, the 4 Kids Center in Braddock, one of two foundation-funded early childhood education facilities in the county, was there for them. Qualifying for a reduced rate, she was able to send her children there.

The CEO of a Fortune 500 company and a young mother taking personal responsibility by pursuing higher education to provide a better life for her family would seem to be natural constituents for the Republican Party agenda in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, while that party's leaders in the Legislature are considering a budget compromise that would raise some tax revenue to pay for some education programs, they are generally opposed to committing public money to early education programs that the community cares about so deeply.

State legislators need to take a close look at the early education dream team that's been forming and ask some hard questions about whether they want to be on record as having played against the likes of respected educators, religious leaders, foundations, CEOs like Rohr and upwardly mobile moms like Hillman.

They would do well to keep some of these players in mind during this final round of negotiations over Gov. Ed Rendell's $560 million schools funding package, which presses beyond the state's current fiscal troubles to stake out universal preschool, full-day kindergarten and small class size as budget priorities.

Why is the governor going into overtime on these issues? Because respected educators and independent researchers have documented the stunning successes of school readiness programs in the classroom. The early education team players are beginning to crowd out the arguments of doubters -- that mandating these programs would force local school boards to give up control of how education dollars are spent; that lavishing large sums of money on 4-year-olds won't improve test scores.

It's time for the Legislature to acknowledge the substance behind the growing early education movement and go forward on a worthy plan, especially given the latest depressing report card on education that lists:

Nationally, 80 percent of preschool children spend up to 50 hours a week in "poor to mediocre" learning settings.

A Pennsylvania Department of Education survey released last month reports that more than 50 percent of the state's schools can't even meet the modest student performance standards required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Pennsylvania ranks as one of only nine states that fails to contribute any state money to federal Head Start or any other preschool program.

An Allegheny County independent research report funded by the Heinz Endowments found that 18 percent of children involved in foundation-sponsored early education programs would have been headed for expensive special education classes if the program hadn't turned them around.

In the Pittsburgh Public School District, 25 percent of all ninth-graders fail to graduate; 69 percent of African-American students cannot read at grade level; 75 percent of African-American students can't do math at grade level.

Sad statistics like these make it clear that long-standing state policies on education are not working. If legislative leaders need more proof of the value of high-quality early education programs, they only have to listen to validation from business leaders like Rohr: "We are dedicating our financial and human resources in a new and more powerful way to achieve greater results in school readiness, which will yield stronger, smarter, healthier children, families and communities."

But clearly the most powerful evidence of success comes in the life-changing testimonials of parents like Hillman:

"My own personal experiences growing up in poverty made me realize that I wanted something better for my [children]," Hillman wrote in a letter thanking funders for creating the Braddock center. While she was able to qualify for admission to Pitt and received financial aid, Hillman would have had to quit if 4 Kids hadn't been an option. Now with a master's degree and employed full-time as a nonprofit manager, Hillman still has her children in 4 Kids, but she now pays the full rate to keep them there.

"[Early childhood education] is a righteous venture that has had a powerful, positive impact on my life and my family's future."