Tacoma Law Enforcement Leaders Say Quality Early Childhood Programs Pay Off
Sheriff, Prosecutor, Chief urge Supercommittee Leader Senator Patty Murray to work to avoid cuts that would undermine the nation’s most cost-effective programs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 18, 2011
CONTACT: Laura Wells, lwells@fightcrime.org
Cell: 425-444-0285, Desk: 206-664-7110
TACOMA, Wash. (October 18, 2011) – While acknowledging the many challenges involved in reducing the nation’s deficit, law enforcement leaders urged U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) to keep in mind that Congress must prevent additional cuts to discretionary spending in order to protect proven crime reduction strategies, including highly effective programs that provide as much as $10 in savings for every dollar spent. Sen. Murray co-chairs the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the so-called “Supercommittee”).
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Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist, Sheriff Paul A. Pastor and Tacoma Chief of Police Don Ramsdell specifically singled out high-quality early care and education as being among the nation’s most cost-effective programs. Recent research shows that these programs can reduce crime, lower corrections costs and save taxpayers millions of dollars over the long term. They were joined by Tacoma Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Art Jarvis.
They signaled their support for early learning during a visit to the Head Start classroom at Stanley Elementary School, where they read to children in the program and discussed the value of early childhood education. The group called on Sen. Murray to work to reduce the deficit while also improving outcomes for kids and increasing public safety. The Supercommittee has a number of options as it looks to find an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction savings over 10 years, and the law enforcement leaders asked that they refrain from further cutting discretionary spending, already substantially reduced as part of the budget deal in August.
“Early care and education offers a great return on investment for taxpayers, and the biggest reason for that is that it steers kids away from crime and reduces corrections costs,” said Chief Ramsdell. “The nation’s most cost-effective programs including high-quality early learning programs will be gutted unless the Supercommittee looks at other spending and revenue choices instead of more discretionary cuts. We’re urging them to do so.”
“Nothing more important than kids. Kids are the future of this nation. Congress needs to make sure any deal they work out to reduce the deficit does not put these valuable early learning programs at risk,” said Sheriff Pastor, citing a recent cost-benefit analysis of the Chicago Child-Parent Center by researchers at the University of Minnesota. “Early care and education is vital for improving the safety of our communities, helping at-risk kids succeed and saving taxpayers far more than the cost.”
The law enforcement leaders released a new report from the group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids called “Pay Now or Pay Much More Later” showing that at-risk children who attend high-quality early care and education programs are significantly less likely to commit crimes and end up in prison. They also noted that Washington taxpayers spent more than $866 million on corrections in the 2011 fiscal year, while only $54 million in state funds on early care and education. According to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Census Bureau, Washington State’s corrections spending tripled between 1982 and 2008.
New research findings published in the prestigious journal Science this June strengthen the argument that high-quality early education can reduce crime and save substantial taxpayer money. A follow-up at age 28 of over 1,400 low-income children in Chicago found that those who did not attend the Child-Parent Center preschools were 27 percent more likely to have a felony arrest by age 26 and were 39 percent more likely to have spent time in jail than those who had participated.
“Reducing crime requires not just vigorous prosecution, but intervention and prevention. Educating our children and providing opportunities should be a part of any effective anti-crime program.” Prosecutor Lindquist said.
Unfortunately, funding for early care and education programs is at-risk as the federal government and states face severe budget deficits. Any reduction in federal funding for early care and education programs could compound major cuts at the state level, causing even more children to lose access to these services. More than 650 law enforcement leaders and crime survivors from all 50 states signed a letter this year urging Congress to maintain their support for early care and education programs.
Prosecutor Lindquist, Sheriff Pastor and Chief Ramsdell are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, the national anti-crime organization of police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors with 225 members in Washington and over 5,000 nationwide.
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