Geauga Co. Sheriff Backs Pre-K To Cut Crime - Sheriff tours Chardon Community Day Care Center, Reads to Students

Nov 21st 2008

CONTACT: Cyndy Rees, State Director
Fight Crime: Invest In Kids Ohio
Phone: 614.264.6662
crees@fightcrime.org

Chardon, Ohio -- Geauga County Sheriff Dan McClelland and State Rep. Matthew Dolan(R-98) visited a classroom at the Chardon Community Day Care Center to raise awareness about the long-term social, economic and crime-cutting benefits of high-quality early education.

McClelland and Dolan toured the school and read to children enrolled in the program. McClelland is a member of FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS, a national anti-crime organization of over 4,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and crime survivors, including 322 members in Ohio.

Research compiled by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids shows that high-quality pre-kindergarten programs significantly reduce arrests among at-risk children who participate. A long-term study of the Perry Preschool Program in Michigan found that by age 40, at-risk children who attended were half as likely to be arrested for violent crimes compared to similar children who did not participate in the high-quality program.

“By giving kids opportunities to learn early on, we can ensure that more young children develop the skills they need to succeed in school,” McClelland said, “and by doing that, we can dramatically increase their chances to avoid delinquency and crime later on.”

McClelland urged state lawmakers and Gov. Ted Strickland to make high-quality early education a priority in their efforts to reform and improve Ohio’s educational system.

Currently, 85 percent of Ohio’s 3-year-olds and 79 percent of 4-year-olds are not enrolled in state pre-k programs, the federally-funded Head Start, or early childhood special education programs. Statewide, funding for Head Start is sufficient to serve only 48 percent of all eligible children.

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