Snohomish County Law Enforcement Leaders: Invest in Early Education or Foot Bigger Prison Bill Later
Sep 2nd 2009
EVERETT, WASH. (Sept. 2, 2009) -- At a news conference today, Everett Chief Jim Scharf, Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick and Prosecuting Attorney Janice Ellis released a research brief indicating that the nearly 32,000 prisoners in Washington's jails and state prisons cost taxpayers $902 million every year. Public safety demands that violent criminals be put behind bars, but research shows that high-quality early learning programs for at risk young children from birth to school-entry can reduce crime, ultimately cutting corrections costs by a quarter or more.
Scharf, Lovick and Ellis said that Washington State could save taxpayers $225 million if it cut prison costs by a quarter.
With kids heading back to school, Washington law enforcement leaders are urging U.S. Sen. Patty Murray to champion new federal legislation to implement the administration's proposed Early Learning Challenge Fund, which will provide $1 billion per year for up to ten years in grants for states to expand and improve their early learning initiatives. Sen. Murray is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is expected to consider the early learning bill soon.
"Corrections is always remedial because crimes have already been committed and innocent people hurt. Early learning for young children is a real opportunity to make a dramatic shift toward prevention," Sheriff Lovick said.
In a long-term study of the high-quality Perry Preschool in Michigan, researchers studied the progress of a group of kids who attended the program and another group who did not. They found that by age 40, the kids left out of the program were 85 percent more likely to be sentenced to jail or prison. In another similar study, 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.
Chief Scharf 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 returned $16 for every dollar invested, with the majority of the cost savings coming from reductions in crime and incarceration.
"A life of crime doesn't pay for the criminal, but like it or not, society does pick up the tab. We know from the research that kids who get early education are less likely to end up behind bars. Let's put that into practice and make sure every at-risk kid has access to the best early learning programs available," Chief Scharf said.
The new Early Learning Challenge Fund will support child development programs such as the state Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) and quality child care, which must have the resources necessary to 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 Snohomish county law enforcement leaders 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 low- and moderate-income families cannot afford.
The need for high-quality early learning opportunities is great. In Washington State, only 56 percent of income-eligible children in poverty attend Head Start or ECEAP due to inadequate funding. And the youngest children, from birth to age 3, are even more dramatically underserved. Early Head Start programs in Washington State serve about three percent of eligible infants and toddlers. Many low-income working families rely on licensed child care programs to provide early learning experiences for their children. These programs struggle to provide quality programming with limited financial resources.
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 incorporate parent coaching, which helps at-risk families learn about early child development.
"By focusing on ages zero to five, we reduce the number of kids who do serious time as adults. Early education gives kids the foundation they need to succeed and stay in school - that cuts crime," Ellis said.
Scharf, Lovick and Ellis are members of FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS Washington, an anti-crime organization led by more than 200 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and violence survivors in Washington State and more than 5,000 nationwide.
Visit www.fightcrime.org/wa to learn more about FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS and download the brief, "Invest in Early Education Now, Spend Less on Prison Later."
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