Washington Fact Sheet

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Preventing Crime with Pre-Kindergarten: A Critical Investment in Washington's Safety

Early Education News

Washington's law enforcement leaders work everyday to put dangerous, violent criminals behind bars. From years on the front line fighting crime, police chiefs, sheriffs and prosecutors know that we can beat back crime with a commitment to investing in early learning for at-risk children and their parents. Starting when children are born, quality educational child care, pre-Kindergarten, Head Start and home visiting keeps kids from becoming criminals in the first place. The evidence is in. Quality early education for children birth to five readies kids to learn, reinforces respect and responsibility for others and reduces behavior problems that can spiral out of control. Research confirms that at-risk children left out of quality early learning are five times more likely to grow up to become criminals by age 27 than children in pre-Kindergarten. Quality early education also saves $17 for every $1 invested. Yet, due to underfunding, state and federal early learning programs in Washington serve only 11 percent of the state's 3 and 4 year olds. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Washington State University report that fully 75 percent of children in the state's low-income classrooms are not school-ready when they get to kindergarten.

Washington State is breaking new ground. The early education partnership between the public and private sectors, Thrive By Five, is a step in the right direction for closing Washington's school readiness gap. The partnership needs full support from state leaders so we fully invest in at-risk kids, assuring that they arrive at school ready to learn and we make our community safer.

Reports

All Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Washington reports on Pre-K, early education, child care and Head Start:

"When I visit preschool classrooms or early-learning centers in at-risk neighborhoods, I look into the eyes of the students and their parents and I can see the furture. I can see more high school graduates, more taxpaying citizens, and a more stable work force. It's a future with fewer welfare checks and a reduced need for special education classrooms."

-Gil Kerlikowske, Chief of Police and National Chairman of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, Seattle, Washington

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• Head Start narrows the literary skills gap by nearly half between children in poverty and all U.S. children.
• Eight out of 10 kindergarten teachers polled say that poorly prepared kids that didn't attend pre-kindergarten negatively impact well-prepared kids.