California Fact Sheet

Quick two-page fact sheet

Preventing Crime with Pre-Kindergarten: A Critical Investment in California's Safety

Early Education News

California's law enforcement leaders work everyday to put dangerous, violent criminals behind bars. From years on the front line fighting crime, police chiefs, sheriffs and prosecutors know that we can beat back crime with a commitment to investing in high-quality preschool, Head Start and educational childcare so we can prevent kids from becoming criminals in the first place. The evidence is in. Quality preschool readies kids to learn, reinforces respect and responsibility for others and reduces behavior problems that can spiral out of control. Research confirms that at-risk children left out of quality preschool are five times more likely to grow up to become criminals by age 27 than children in pre-kindergarten. Quality preschool also saves more than $2 for every $1 invested, but only 20 percent of California preschoolers are enrolled in programs of high quality.

Reports

All Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California reports on Pre-K, early education, child care and Head Start:

"I'd much rather guarantee all kids a place at circle time in a high-quality preschool than see some of them serve hard time in prison later in life."

-Jim Denney, Sutter County Sheriff

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• Head Start narrows the literary skills gap by nearly half between children in poverty and all U.S. children.
• Eight out of 10 kindergarten teachers polled say that poorly prepared kids that didn't attend pre-kindergarten negatively impact well-prepared kids.