Quality Public Pre-K: �Investing in Our �

Future Workforce�

Last year, in an effort to balance the state budget, the Texas legislature made unprecedented cuts to public education. As a result, funding for high quality full day pre-k programs decreased by $223 million. �

Pre-k programs have felt these drastic cuts in the form of increased

class size, fewer teacher aides, fewer inclusion and special ed staff,

and reduced instructional time. �

Cutting funding for high quality pre-k programs will impact future

economic development at a local level.�

There isn’t a pre-k study out there that hasn’t shown a direct correlation between investment in high quality pre-k programs and

dramatic improvements in �economic development. �

How Pre-K Programs Promote Economic Development: �

!   Higher per capita earnings gained by increasing adult labor force in place of child participants�

!   Former child participants stay in the same state or metro area as adults and contribute in a higher quality way to the local workforce than they did as children �

!   Short-term benefits: increases in property values�

!   Long-term benefits: stronger labor supply�

!   Early childhood programs have the most rigorous evidence of large effects per dollar invested �

Source: Timothy J. Bartik, Senior Economist, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Presentation to National Business Leader Summit on Early Childhood Investment, Boston, Massachusetts.�

Other Impacts of Early Childhood Education Investments on Economic Productivity and

Decreased Cost to Government: �!   fewer special education referrals and less grade repetition �

!   higher rates of high school graduation �

!   fewer behavioral problems and delinquency�

!   higher employment earnings�

!   less welfare dependency �

!   less smoking, drug use, and depression �

!   reduced schooling costs, social services costs, crime costs, and healthcare costs �

!   less teen pregnancy and smoking �

Source: Barnett, W. S. (2002) Early childhood education. In A. Molnar (Ed.) School reform proposals: The research evidence (pp.1-26). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

The Bush study at Texas A&M found that, for every dollar spent on quality full day pre-k, there’s a

350% return on investment.�

So, how is it a good idea to �cut their funding? �

Pre-k programs suffer from the misperception that what they provide amounts to little more than glorified

babysitting, and therefore they aren’t as important as other public

school programs.�

Perception?�

To the untrained eye, what happens in pre-k looks a lot like play. As

well it should, because �play is the work of a young child. �But the play is all intentional and

well-planned. �

Take the Lion Lane School in �Spring Branch ISD...�

According to Sharee Cantrell, the school’s director, Texas pre-k

programs have evolved over the past decade as assessment data showed

that children were capable of absorbing more information in a play-based environment than

previously thought.�

Pre-K programs vary. �But those, like Lion Lane, led by teachers with advanced degrees in early childhood education, base their instruction on each child’s developmental stage. Lessons are geared within a structured curriculum to

the next step for each child.�

Kids are never at desks filling out workbooks, but they are always learning.�

When Spring Branch ISD opened full day pre-k centers 11 years ago, they had two goals in mind: �

(1) to show kids that learning at school is fun; and �

(2) to focus on their social and emotional development. �

By the middle of the year, the kids had learned ALL of their letters and sounds without any direct instruction

-- just lots of exposure to good reading, writing, play and modeling. �

Kids absorbed the information in a natural setting. Now Spring Branch ISD has a 9-week curriculum for

each subject matter. And, because it’s a full-day program, students

have time to work on projects in the afternoon as an authentic

application of the reading and writing skills they’ve learned �

in the morning.�

“Kids are able to do a lot more than we give them credit for. It’s

amazing how quickly they can pick up on things if you let them.” �

Sharee Cantrell, �Director (Principal) of The Lion Lane School�