(06-22-09) Federal funding fact sheet

What's New

Fact Sheet: Federal Funding for Quality Early Childhood Education

The First Five Years Fund urges Congress to support President Obama’s budget request for nearly $1 billion to enhance the quality of early childhood education.

At risk families face a two-fold problem right now. They are dealing with unprecedented financial hardships at the same that state budgets require cut backs in the services they and their children rely on everyday. That’s why it’s more important than ever to support quality early childhood programs and services at the federal level.

The First Five Years Fund applauds the President for making quality improvements a priority, and urges Congress to work with the President to give as many disadvantaged young children as possible the opportunity to receive a high quality early education.

Research clearly demonstrates the value of investing in quality early childhood education, including social and economic returns such as higher earnings, longer stays in school, more employment opportunities and decreased chance of a criminal record.

High-quality care and early childhood education services lead to higher earnings, longer stays in school, more employment opportunities and decreased chance of a criminal record.

Perry Preschool Study

The Perry Preschools study showed that, by age 40, children enrolled at age three or four in this high-quality early learning program were more likely to have high school diplomas, jobs, and higher earnings than their peers. The study also found that participants committed fewer crimes than those who never enrolled in the program.

The study followed 123 high-risk, three- and four-year-olds in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Nearly 60 children were randomly assigned to a high-quality early care and education program, while the rest received no preschool. All participants were tracked until age 40. In 2003, a report by Arthur Rolnick and Arthur Reynolds of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis called "Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return" analyzed the data from the Perry Preschool Project and concluded a 16 percent estimated real internal rate of return for every dollar invested.

High-quality care and early childhood education services provide a great return on investment.

Economic Policy Institute

In 2007, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a study titled "Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation." According to this study, providing voluntary, high-quality, publicly funded prekindergarten education for the poorest 25 percent of three- and four-year-old children would have an enormous impact on everything from the annual budget to crime prevention. EPI estimates that these annual benefits would surpass the costs of the program within a six-year time frame. According to the EPI, by 2050, the overall benefits of such a program would total $315 billion. The breakdown for this total includes $83 billion in budgetary benefits for the government; $156 billion for increased employment compensation; and $77 billion resulting from savings associated with the reduction of crime and child abuse. These annual benefits - as projected for the year 2050 - would exceed the costs of the program by a ratio of 12.1 to 1 www.epi.org

High-quality care and early childhood education services are cost-effective investments over the long term.

Research on comprehensive, high-quality early learning shows that such programs are cost-effective investments that promote substantial economic and social benefits, while also reducing the need for more expensive, less productive interventions for older children and adults. Or, as the Nobel Prize-winning economist at the University of Chicago, James Heckman says, "The real question is how to use available funds wisely. The best evidence supports the policy prescription: Invest in the very young."

Heckman

One of the world's leading economists - Dr. James Heckman - urges an early education to help children perform better in school and to save money down the road. Heckman argues that early interventions for disadvantaged children "raise the quality of the workforce, enhance the productivity of schools and reduce crime, teenage pregnancy, and welfare dependency. They raise earnings and promote social attachment. Focusing solely on earnings gains, returns to dollars invested are as high as 15 to 17 percent (per year)."