S.C. Law Enforcement Urge Spratt to Increase Early Education Funds to Cut Crime

Winnsboro, S.C. – The importance of federal investments in early care and education as both short- and long-term economic stimulus for our nation’s economy were key points made today during a roundtable with U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., and seventeen local law enforcement and community leaders.

Spratt met with a county sheriff, several police chiefs and solicitors and a mayor from the 5th District to discuss a recently released report by the crime-fighting organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids. The report shows that at-risk kids who attend Head Start and other high-quality early education programs are less likely to commit crimes as adults than similar children who do not attend.

Providing high-quality Head Start and child care services to all eligible children will increase graduation rates in South Carolina and could prevent as many as 900 children each year from becoming future criminals. Research shows that increasing graduation rates decreases crime. Nearly 70 percent of all state prison inmates currently incarcerated in the United States failed to earn a high school diploma. Fifty-six percent of students who begin school in South Carolina will fail to graduate on time.

“Today we asked Rep. Spratt to ensure that there is room in the upcoming 2010 federal budget for $10 billion in new funding for Head Start, Early Head Start, and high quality child care,” Sheriff Herman Young of Fairfield County said. “It is absolutely critical that we invest in proven approaches to reach kids and their families before they begin offending.”

Since 2002, final funding levels for these programs has been cut or increased too slowly to keep pace with inflation. In 2006, Head Start did not serve 56 percent of South Carolina’s children eligible for the program due to lack of funding. The addition of $10 billion to the program would allow for many more children nationwide to benefit from early childhood programs.

Those attending the event include:

Sheriff Herman Young, Fairfield Count
Chief Larry McNeil, Bennettsville Police Department
Chief William Mobley, York City Police Department
Chief Mike Brown, Chester County
Mayor Mitchell Foster, City of Chester
Chief Robin Morse, Laurens Police Department
Deputy Solicitor Ouida Dest (for Solicitor Brackett), 16th Judicial Circuit
Chief Thomas Langley, McColl Police Department
Director Wayne Yates, Winnsboro Department of Public Safety
Chief John Gregory, Rock Hill Police Department
Sergeant Brad Redfearn, Rock Hill Police Department
Chief Charles Woodle, Lamar Police Department
Chief Hugh White, Lancaster Police Department
Solicitor Douglas Barfield, 6th Judicial Circuit
Solicitor William Rogers, 4th Judicial Circuit

The law enforcement leaders are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national anti-crime organization made up of over 4,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, district attorneys, and violence survivors, including 84 in South Carolina.

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