A quiet movement to bolster early childhood education in Louisiana, especially among the poor, has all the right intentions. Such discussions should be encouraged in this state.

The Baton Rouge Advocate has reported on the effort, which includes representatives of 22 school districts. They’ve been meeting for six months, discussing how to use children’s services up to age 5 to better prepare public school students who are entering the early grades.

The Advocate reported last week that the West Feliciana Parish school system’s successful, long-term early-childhood program has been serving as a shining example for discussions involving the school system representatives. For two decades, West Feliciana has aggressively sought to corral a full-range of available children’s services to help bolster youngsters’ chances for success as they approach school age.

West Feliciana has used the resources of such federal programs as Head Start and Early Head Start both to help toddlers get good early development and then in honing their academic skills. Early Head Start starts with prenatal care for mothers; Head Start, which has long history of success, focuses on children’s school readiness from age 3.

Hollis G. Milton, West Feliciana superintendent, told the Advocate that the system’s efforts make children’s entry into school and early academic success “very smooth.” An overwhelming percentage of West Feliciana youngsters show they are proficient in math and science by third grade.

West Feliciana’s continuing success has encouraged other successful Louisiana initiatives, including LA 4. That effort, which helped launch preschool education for disadvantaged children around the state, was encouraged by legislation by former state Sen. Bill Jones of Ruston.

On one level, such efforts represent mere talk, and there is no shortage of talk when it comes to government. But talk comes before planning, planning before action. When it comes to impoverished children, Louisiana needs all the talk, planning and action it can afford.

That’s because too many Louisiana toddlers still face an uphill climb to success. Our state ranks 49th in the U.S. for low-birthweight children and 48th in infant mortality. Both those conditions are most often scourges on the poor. A quarter of Louisiana children live in poverty; one-tenth live in extreme poverty. Those findings come from the Children’s Defense Fund.

Fortunately, Louisiana has made headway in serving poor children. Almost half of our 4-year-olds are in some sort of pre-school program; Head Start serves more than 22,000.

The right strategy for Louisiana is to soften the effects of child poverty early, before they ruin children’s potential for success. In West Feliciana, they’ve had some successes. Good for those school districts that are trying to learn from them.