The Unionville Times: Hogan, Area DAs Push for Pre-K to Cut Crime
KING OF PRUSSIA – Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan and other Southeast Pennsylvania prosecutors came out strong this week to support an initiative to Gov. Tom Wolf to fund pre-kindergarten programs as a long-term way to boost high school graduation and cut crime in the commonwealth.
Hogan and the other southeast region district attorneys who are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids participated in a regional Pre-K for PA legislative breakfast Wednesday to release a new report – We’re the Guys You Pay Later – documenting how Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed $120 million state funding increase for high-quality pre-kindergarten programs could boost high school graduation rates, reduce the number of people who are incarcerated in Pennsylvania and lead to more than $350 million annually in Corrections and other cost savings to society over the lifetimes of the children served.
Delaware County District Attorney John J. Whelan, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, and Philadelphia District Attorney R. Seth Williams joined Hogan to participate in a panel discussion that focused on research documenting the impact of high-quality early childhood programs on educational and life outcomes for at-risk children and the resulting crime reduction.
Read the entire article here.
Pottstown Mercury: Area D.A.s Tout the Importance of Early-Education Programs to Prevent Crime
UPPER MERION – Spending money on pre-kindergarten programs now will inevitably save the taxpayers of Pennsylvania money in the long run when they are not paying as much to lock up criminals, according to a report by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids.
To drive that point home on Wednesday, District Attorneys Risa Ferman of Montgomery County, Seth Williams of Philadelphia, Jack Whelan of Delaware County, and Tom Hogan of Chester County, joined each other on stage at the Double Tree Hotel in King of Prussia to introduce the report dubbed “We’re the Guys You Pay Later.”
In short, the report states that much more money is spent on prosecuting defendants and locking them up in the county jails and state prisons than is spent on investing in education for children before Kindergarten.
“Pennsylvania jails are full of people serving time for serious and costly crimes. It doesn’t have to be that way – providing at-risk kids with high-quality early learning programs can reduce the costs and impact of crime in the future,” the report states.
Ferman said sending her three children to a high-quality preschool when they were younger sent them on the right path in life and society’s problems cannot be fixed by arresting people.
“Public safety is our primary concern as prosecutors and you know that we do that job and we lock people up when we need to. But what we know, perhaps more than anyone, is that we cannot arrest and prosecute our way out of the crime problem that we have. We have to look deeper,” Ferman said.
The report boasts that an investment in early childhood education now can save Pennsylvania taxpayers a total of $350 million in the future. Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed budget seeks to increase early childhood education funding by $120 million. That increase, according to the report, would allow for 14,200 additional children to take part in state-funded pre-k programs.
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Erie Times: Education notes – DiNicola, Scott honored for pre-K work
Ronald A. DiNicola and Nick Scott Jr. were honored by the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children at the organization’s annual dinner in Harrisburg on April 17.
The two Erie natives each received the first Vision Award presented to Pennsylvania leaders who have made significant contributions advocating on behalf of young children.
“The Northwest PA Pre-K for PA campaign has been a shining example of how leaders can rally behind a cause and make progress,” PennAEYC President Jodi Askins said.
“Ron and Nick signed on to lead with enthusiasm and are still fighting the good fight. Pre-K for PA and young learners who may benefit from their hard work are fortunate to have them on their team.”
Over the past year, Scott and DiNicola have co-chaired the Pre-K for PA Campaign in N.W. Pennsylvania, a statewide effort to expand access to Pre-K for all 3- and 4-year-olds in Pennsylvania. increased investment in Pre-K.
Read the full article here.
Lancaster Newspapers Editorial: Let’s be Fair, and Smart: Fund Preschool Education
THE ISSUE
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s call to boost preschool education funding by $120 million statewide received Republican support Monday at a Head Start center in Lancaster. Wolf wants to boost overall spending to $256.5 million for the 2015-16 school year, up from $136.5 million this school year — an 88 percent increase that includes $100 million more for Pennsylvania’s Pre-K Counts and $20 million more for Head Start. Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts is a state program for children ages 3 through prekindergarten considered at risk of school failure and with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal income poverty level. Head Start is a federal program for families at or below the poverty level of $24,250 in annual income for a family of four.
Everyone seems to agree that high-quality preschool education is a net plus for society.
Then-Gov. Tom Corbett made a boost in preschool funding a selling point during his unsuccessful re-election bid last year.
Mission: Readiness, a coalition of more than 500 retired senior military leaders, supports preschool education as part of its focus on what it considers a serious national security problem. “Currently, more than 70 percent of 17- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. cannot serve in the military, primarily because they are too poorly educated, too overweight, or have a serious criminal record,” is how the bipartisan group defines the problem on its website.
Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman and Sheriff Mark Reese and state Rep. Bryan Cutler of Peach Bottom, all Republicans, were on hand for Monday’s event to support the governor’s call for more preschool funding.
Both Stedman and Reese consider spending on preschool education an investment in crime prevention.
For those who did not attend preschool, or even kindergarten, these calls can be hard to understand.
Why, when many adults grew up just fine without it, is preschool education such a priority today?
One answer is the changing nature of employment. The jobs of the future — and even the present, including many military professions — require higher academic skills. Today’s complicated technology demands more advanced reading skills, and the teamwork environment of our complex, global economy rewards those with the ability to communicate effectively.
Another is the rising percentage of children in poverty.
According to an analysis of 2013 Census data by the Southern Education Foundation, 51 percent of children in prekindergarten through 12th grade are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.
While poverty does not automatically lead to lower language skills, it does have an impact. Children living in poverty have fewer books in their homes, and therefore fewer opportunities to develop language skills essential to reading and writing.
Read the entire article here.
CBS 3: Local DA’s: “Pay Now for Pre-K or Pay Later for Crime”
By Jim Melwert
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (CBS) — There was a show of support Wednesday morning for the expansion of “Pre-K” and early childhood education, as advocates were joined by the district attorneys from Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester Countries at the Double Tree Hotel in King of Prussia.
Among the speakers was Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan. He says studies show money can be spent on children now when they’re young, or…
“Or they’ll have to deal with me as a prosecutor later,” Hogan says, “when they’ve taken the wrong steps in life, when they haven’t had the right support and they’re in the criminal justice system, and that’s too late.”
Hogan compares quality pre-K education to immunizations.
“When we’re out with police, you will run into three or four-year-old kids that are in a family, and the police will say to you, based on their background, they’re going to end up in the criminal justice system someday.”
Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams says study after study shows one of the best ways to prevent crime is quality early childhood education.
“People don’t expect DAs talking about early childhood education, like ‘What are you a social worker?’ I am the social worker of last resort,” he says, “I am the prosecutor.”
Read the entire article here.
Philly.com Op-Ed: Expanding Preschool will Help Children and the City
By Elliot Weinbaum
and Sharon Easterling
In Philadelphia, many are working hard to improve our schools. There is significant work to be done if we are to give our young people the best possible opportunity to become active and successful citizens, and we need to begin with our youngest learners.
Consider a few important facts. According to the Reinvestment Fund’s childcaremap.org, only 15 percent of about 100,000 child-care seats in Philadelphia are rated as being high-quality, with three or four stars, according to the state’s Keystone Stars rating system. Of the remainder, more than half do not participate in the state’s certification or rating systems, and more than 30 percent are at the lower quality ratings.
If we look at individual neighborhoods, the landscape can be even bleaker. Childcaremap.org shows that several neighborhoods, some serving more than 1,000 children under the age of 5, have no child-care centers with a rating of three or four stars. In a city with the highest poverty rates among large American cities, less than one-third of our 3- and 4-year-olds have access to publicly funded, high-quality pre-K.
Why should we care? Because we know that early-education opportunities help people live better lives. Studies such as those by the Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman indicate that children who miss out on early education often struggle to catch up to the academic, professional, and personal success experienced by their peers. The work of Harvard education professor David Deming has shown that children in an early-childhood program are less likely to demonstrate learning disabilities later in life, more likely to graduate from high school, and less likely to be in poor health as adults.
What does this mean for Philadelphia? There are about 12,000 kindergartners in our city. The overall rate of special education in Philadelphia would suggest that almost 14 percent of these students will need special-education services. An evaluation by Pre-K Counts, a statewide program, suggests that if every child had access to high-quality early education, the special-education rate would be reduced to less than 5 percent.
Read the entire op-ed here.
