Senator Casey Backs Law Enforcement Call for Increased Funding for Early Childhood Education
Apr 16th 2009
SCRANTON, PENN. -- U.S. Senator Bob Casey joined Lackawanna County law enforcement leaders in a pre- kindergarten classroom at John Marshall Elementary School today and pledged to work to increase federal funding for quality early childhood education programs proven to cut future crime and violence.
"Investing in quality early childhood education pays immeasurable dividends for the child and for our country," said Senator Casey. "Increased support for early childhood education is one of my top priorities and I will make sure this message from Lackawanna County resonates in Washington."
Joining Casey at John Marshall Elementary were Scranton Police Chief David Elliott and Lackawanna County District Attorney Andy Jarbola. Elliott and Jarbola are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania, an anti-crime organization of more than 200 Pennsylvania police chiefs, sheriffs, district attorneys, other law enforcement leaders and victims of violence.
The law enforcement leaders are calling on the state and federal governments to increase funding for quality early childhood education. Specifically, they are asking the Pennsylvania General Assembly to increase funding for the Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts program by the proposed $8.6 million needed to provide critical early education services to an additional 1,000 at-risk kids statewide.
They are also asking Congress to support the President’s proposed new state challenge grants for high-quality early learning Zero-to-Five program.
“Pennsylvania and the nation cannot afford NOT to increase wise investments like high-quality pre- kindergarten that will increase high school graduation rates, cut future crime and inmate populations, and ultimately save critical taxpayer dollars,” said Jarbola. “Too much is at stake – not the least of which is public safety.”
Chief Elliott said that it is becoming increasingly obvious that, “we will never arrest and imprison our way out of the crime problem.”
Experience and statistics show that there is a connection between a lack of education and increased crime. Nearly 70 percent of the nation’s prison population failed to receive a high school diploma and research shows that high school dropouts are three and a half times more likely than graduates to be arrested and eight times more likely to be incarcerated.
“Besides the threat to public safety, Pennsylvania’s dropouts earn less, pay fewer taxes, and are more likely to collect welfare and other state assistance,” said Elliott.
Casey and the law enforcement leaders visited John Marshall’s pre-k classroom today to highlight the crime prevention value of such programs. Evidence from two long-term evaluations of the effects of pre-kindergarten programs show that participating in high-quality pre-kindergarten increases high school graduation rates by as much as 44 percent.
That study of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program, which served 3- and 4-year-olds from low income families, also found that kids not enrolled in the program were five times more likely to have become chronic lawbreakers by age 27 than similar kids who did participate.
With this knowledge, Elliott and Jarbola said they are concerned about local data that show because of lack of funding only slightly more than half of Lackawanna County’s at-risk children receive quality publicly funded pre-kindergarten services. The law enforcement leaders cautioned that this unmet need creates a crime prevention gap that puts all county residents at needless risk of becoming a victim of crime later on.
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