Lincoln’s Law Enforcement Leaders: Invest in Early Education or Foot Bigger Prison Bill Later
Aug 31st 2009
LINCOLN, NEB. (August 31, 2009) -- At a news conference today, Lincoln Chief of Police Thomas K. Casady, Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey and Chief Deputy Attorney Joe Kelly released a research brief indicating that high-quality early learning programs for at-risk young children ages birth-to-five can significantly reduce crime and ultimately cut corrections costs by a quarter or more.
Currently in Nebraska, there are more than 9,000 prisoners in Nebraska's jails and state or federal prisons, with corrections costs exceeding $180 million every year. Casady, Lacey and Kelly said that Nebraska would save $45 million in taxpayer dollars if it cut prison costs by a quarter by investing in early learning. A year of state lock-up costs taxpayers $34,000 a year in Nebraska-more expensive than a year's tuition, room, and board at UNL, which costs around $14,000.
With kids heading back to school, Nebraska law enforcement leaders are urging the state's Congressional Delegation to support the new proposal for an Early Learning Challenge Fund, which will provide $1 billion per year for states to expand and improve their early childhood development initiatives. The chief and county attorney also urged the state legislature to invest in early education and care for Nebraska's youngest at-risk children.
"We're not here to say that all kids that miss out on the early learning experience will be criminals; or that all kids who get early education will be on the straight-and-narrow. What we are saying is that early learning can dramatically change the odds for kids," Chief Casady said.
A long-term study of the high-quality Perry Preschool in Michigan found that by age 40, the kids left out of the program were 85 percent more likely to be sentenced to jail or prison. Another study detailed in the report showed that at-risk kids who did not attend Chicago's Child-Parent Centers were 24 percent more likely to be incarcerated than similar kids who did attend.
The local law enforcement leaders emphasized the cost-saving benefits of investing in high-quality early childhood education and care, especially for at-risk young children. Researchers at the Federal Reserve found that the Perry Preschool program had a rate of return of 16% on the initial investment. The majority of the cost savings came from reductions in crime and incarceration.
"We're never going to totally eliminate the need for tough corrections, but we can make it a whole lot less expensive by getting kids on track early. Early learning gives us the opportunity to have more kids preparing for the college boards, instead of parole boards," County Attorney Lacey said.
The new Early Learning Challenge Fund will support child development programs, such as Head Start, Early Head Start, pre-kindergarten and quality child care, which offer constructive environments for the healthy growth and development of young children in the first five years of life. The education committee in the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in July that includes support for the Early Learning Challenge Fund.
The Lincoln area law enforcement officials said that more support is needed at the state and federal level to ensure that quality early childhood programs are available and affordable to more families. Costs for enrolling young children in early learning programs can run as high as $7,300 a year, which many families are unable to afford.
The need for increased access to high-quality early learning opportunities is great. For example, the federally-funded Head Start program for children in poverty serves only half of eligible children nationwide due to inadequate funding. The youngest children, from birth to age 3, are even more dramatically underserved. In fact, Early Head Start serves about three percent of eligible infants and toddlers nationally.
"It's been said that he who opens a school door closes a prison. I would much rather see a child enter an early learning classroom than a detention facility," Chief Deputy Kelly said.
The research shows that quality is essential to getting the crime and incarceration reduction benefits of early learning. The Early Learning Challenge Fund legislation will enable states to adopt best practices, including higher qualifications for teachers and caregivers, smaller class sizes, and early screening and treatment of mental, emotional and behavioral problems. The new fund will also allow more states to provide parent coaching, which helps at-risk families learn about early childhood development.
The report was compiled by FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS, an anti-crime organization led by 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and violence survivors nationwide, including 73 in the Cornhusker State.
###
