More than 80 early childhood educators met Friday at Shaker Run Golf Club and the agenda included a rare public gathering of some Warren County superintendents and education officials to discuss the present and future of young students in Ohio's second fastest growing county.

"The earlier we intervene with children, the greater their chance for academic success," said Lebanon Superintendent Bill Sears. He predicted that state law, which does not require children to be in school until age 5, will eventually lower that age - but he isn't optimistic that Ohio's chronic school funding problems will soon be remedied.

Wayne Schools Superintendent Thomas Isaacs agreed, saying widespread expansion of early learning programs will likely be hindered for years as Ohio lawmakers continue to overhaul school funding inequities that have seen state funding cuts for most of the state's 614 public school systems.

Isaacs said a new state law requiring all-day kindergarten also isn't likely. "I don't see the state giving us any more money to build new classrooms for it," he added.

Sears did point to his 4,800-student district's new Louisa Wright Early Childhood Center, which opened this school year, as moving in the right direction. But he said a groundswell of community support will likely be necessary to prompt state legislators to expand both early childhood educational requirements and funding.

The conference was sponsored by the Warren County Educational Service Center in Lebanon.

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