Investing immediately in a national preschool program would yield high
returns - including possibly shoring up an ailing Social Security system,
says a new WestEd report. According to economist Robert G. Lynch, funding
a national, high-quality, early childhood development program would help
balance cash-strapped government budgets by creating year-over-year
incremental savings. This includes the Social Security program, which some
experts project will begin facing financial difficulties in the year 2018,
about the time when the first class of today's preschoolers would enter
the workforce. By selecting all three- and four-year-olds who fall below
the poverty line, Lynch's proposed national preschool program would enroll
the very 1.6 million youngsters who, as they grow up, would otherwise cost
taxpayers most. A national preschool program would also directly benefit
the children and families it would serve. When poor children are provided
access to high-quality preschool, research shows they perform much better
in school, experience higher graduation rates, and tend to stay out of
trouble with drugs, alcohol, and crime. Lynch estimates the annual
preschool cost per child at $12,000. If the national program were fully
implemented next year, by the time the first preschoolers entered the
workforce, they would contribute substantially to Social Security and help
counteract the demands aging baby boomers will place on the system. As
adults, they would enter the workforce at higher skill levels, earning
larger salaries and paying higher taxes into the system. Although the
up-front costs of the program would be substantial, the payoff is huge.
http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/772