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Video: KPRC 2 News
Laura Isensee, KUHF Public Radio
One of the latest big ideas from President Obama is prekindergarten for every four-year-old in the country. In Texas, the state already pays for half day prekindergarten. Here in Houston, a group of education experts, child advocates and business people want to expand on that — with a brand new tax.
At a reception at the United Way near downtown, people are picking up white envelopes. They’re filled with petitions and talking points.
“Learning begins from zero on,” says Anna Babin, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Houston. “A quality early education can make the difference of a child entering kindergarten ready or not,” she adds.
That’s the pitch from the Early To Rise campaign. The goal is to get 78,000 signatures from registered voters in Harris County in the next few weeks to put a proposed county-wide property tax on the ballot in November.
The proposal is a 1-cent property tax per $100 dollars of assessed value on a home. It would pay to expand and improve early childhood education, including better training for child-care providers, parenting support and teacher training.
(Read and listen to more of the story at KUHF Public Radio)
LOCAL AREA HEADLINES:
- Man accused of holding four ‘prisoners’ held against their will in Houston home remains jailed (KTRK 13 News)
- Houston Group Worries About Border Deaths As Congress Discusses Immigration Reform (KUHF Public Radio)
- Houston Council Considers Punishment For Wage Theft (KUHF Public Radio)
- Man suspected in dog’s death identified (KRIV 26 News)
- Images capture deplorable conditions inside local animal shelter (KHOU 11 News)
- Memorial Hermann babies given the “royal treatment” (KPRC 2 News)
- HCDE receives Hogg Foundation Grant to fund training in Children’s Mental Health (Your Houston News)
STATE HEADLINES:
- Texas Drought Forecast to Continue, Perhaps For Years (State Impact Texas)
- Garden-Fresh Produce for the Poor, From Prison Farms (Texas Tribune)
- State Abortion Laws Differ From Doctors In Defining 20 Weeks (NPR)
- Dallas suburb cannot bar housing to illegal immigrants, court rules (Reuters)
NATION & WORLD:
- ‘Alarming’ rise in children injured by falling TVs (KPRC 2 News)
- In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters (New York Times)
- Polls Show Wide Racial Gap On Trayvon Martin Case (NPR)
- China quakes death toll rises to 89, hundreds injured (Reuters)