MOUNTAIN VILLAGE – Ballot question 1A may be dubbed a “Little Mil for Little People,” but the initiative received big support from a big name in Colorado politics this week.

Colorado Lieutenant Governor Barbara O'Brien, in Telluride to attend the Telluride Foundation-sponsored second annual Telluride Summit on Early Childhood Investment, tendered her support of San Miguel County’s Early Childhood Education Ballot Initiative at a press conference on Monday. “It’s one of the most important things San Miguel County can do” to help bolster its economy and sustain a healthy workforce, she said.

The ballot initiative is to improve the quality, availability and affordability of early childcare in San Miguel County. If passed this November, 1A would raise property taxes in the County by 0.75 of a mil, which equates to around a $30-per-year tax hike for a resident with a home valued at $500,000.

O’Brien backs 1A, and other tax-based programs that help fund early childhood development programs in Colorado, because they ultimately prove to be economic boons to the state, she said Monday. Prior to her appointment as Lieutenant Governor in 1997, O’Brien was president of the Colorado Children's Campaign, a statewide public policy and advocacy nonprofit organization. She pointed to an economic impact study the group oversaw while she was president as evidence that well-supported childcare programs provide more dollars for local economies. That study noted that Colorado’s childcare industry had more economic impact on the state than either the coal or higher education industries. “So as an industry, childcare has a very positive impact,” she said. Furthermore, quality early education may cost taxpayers money up front, but can ultimately save taxpayer dollars in the long run. Children who receive quality early learning care spend less time in special education and have lower incidences of being held back in school.

“The long-term social benefits are significant,” O’Brien said, adding that kids who receive good early education are less likely to enter prison or rely on welfare later in life.

O’Brien said Monday that paying for such programs falls on the shoulders of state and local governments, as well as community members, nonprofit organizations, and the families themselves. “A partnership needs to exist to make it high quality and affordable,” she said.

1A supporter Jill Burchmore explained that, if passed, the Little Mil for Little People would provide permanent funding for childcare in the region through support of such programs as financial assistance and childcare scholarships, early childhood teacher recruitment and retention, early childhood quality education initiatives, home visitation and parent education programs, and childcare center expansion. “It’s not about paying somebody else’s daycare bill,” she said.

If funding for the program was established elsewhere in the future, the tax could disappear, she added. “It’s not a forever thing – it can go away at any time,” she explained.

Another local proponent, Cathy James, said the initiative would help shape the future of the community as a whole. “Do we want to see children in our community? Do we want young families to be able to live here? If so, we better start working now on how we’re going keep those people in Telluride in the future.”