Amid all the political wrangling over what our government investment in public education should be, we’ve lost sight of one of the most vital pillars of that enterprise.

A report released last week by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, a Harrisburg-based child advocacy group, paints a dire picture when it comes to the state of early childhood education in Pennsylvania.

Only one in six children is enrolled in a publicly funded, high quality, pre-K program, the report found. That means more than 240,000 children statewide — about half of them from poor families — are on the outside looking in.

In Butler County 89 percent of the 4,262 three- and four-year-olds here lack access to a publicly funded, high quality pre-K program. Even if you add private pre-K programs to the mix the numbers don’t get much better: there are still 3,111 3-and-4-year-olds without access.

That number is far too high. Especially when everything we know about a child’s neurological development points to early childhood education as a no-lose investment with the potential for exponential returns.

Studies have shown that children who participate in these programs require less special education, are less likely to need child welfare services, and are more likely to earn higher incomes years later when they enter the labor force. They’re also less likely to engage in criminal activity.

The Society for Research in Child Development pegs the investment return at between $3 and $5 for every dollar we spend. Economists say it’s even higher — a return of more than 7-to-1. A 2007 study published by the Economic Policy Institute found that the programs have potential to generate billions of dollars in savings and revenue for the federal and state governments.

But an educational movement that once exhibited promising growth here is now stagnating.

Between 2002 and 2012 enrollment in Pennsylvania pre-K programs increased by a factor of more than 10, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research.

You’d think that would herald a big number when it comes to overall enrollment now, but Pennsylvania ranks 30th in the nation for pre-K access for 4-year-olds, and 15th for 3-year-olds.

Still not too bad, right? Wrong. Those rankings are lower than they were in 2014, when just 26 percent of Pennsylvania 4-year-olds were enrolled in a high quality pre-K program.

For more perspective, compare Pennsylvania’s results with 2015 pre-K enrollment for our neighbors: 94 percent in West Virginia; 54 percent in New York; 42 percent in Maryland; and 35 percent in New Jersey.

PPC’s report lobbies for a $500 million investment through 2019, to bump up access to include 40 percent of the state’s 3-and-4-year-olds. Pennsylvania, which in December allocated $122.3 million for pre-K programs — a $25 million increase from the previous year — is still far off that mark.

Whatever the budget numbers are, it’s clear that we still have a long way to go when it comes to connecting young minds and bodies with the resources vital to their development.

Inevitably, there are going to be differing opinions on how to best accomplish that goal. Those arguments are worth having, but the most important question isn’t how we succeed in this.

It is: what happens if we continue to fail?