John Peck: Pre-K investments can keep kids out of prison

With graduation season upon us, we’re reminded how smart, up-front investments in human potential save money on the back end. When we create quality educational opportunities for our children, we invest in the likelihood that our next generation will be successful, contributing members of the community.

No one is born to be a criminal, and yet they are made. We all pay the price when 40,000 men and women are sitting in Pennsylvania’s state prisons — and that doesn’t include county inmates.

Nearly 40% of the commonwealth’s state inmates do not have high school diplomas. Instead of being productive, taxpaying citizens, they cost those taxpayers more than $45,000 a year in incarceration. The total bill: $3.5 billion annually on state and local prisons. This type of back-end spending could have been avoided with wise investments at the front end.

High-quality pre-K programs are one of these investments. The research on the impact of high quality pre-K is clear: These early learning programs start children on a pathway to success, leading to fewer academic barriers and preventing criminal behavior.

Investments in the Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts and Head Start programs can boost high school graduation rates and reduce the number of people who are incarcerated in Pennsylvania, and, for the 32,000 Pennsylvanian children served by such programs, lead to nearly $864 million in societal benefits over their lifetimes.

Success in pre-K helps ensure student success in K-12. Unfortunately, not all Pennsylvania schools are funded adequately to ensure student success. In fact, Pennsylvania has one of the widest per-pupil spending gaps in the country between wealthy and poor school districts. As Penn State researchers show, the poorest 20% of Pennsylvania schools spend $7,866 less per student than the wealthiest 20%. This inequity makes a stark difference in the schools our children attend.

A lack of reliable, equitable and adequate K-12 funding contributes to larger class sizes, where students get less personal attention from teachers. It means ill-equipped science labs and outdated technology, preventing students from building the skills needed for the 21st century. It means fewer extracurriculars and elective courses, blocking the avenues where students explore the interests that lead to fulfilling careers.

Our state’s overreliance on local property taxes to fund education is driving this inequity — paying only 38% of K-12 costs, compared to a national average of 47%.

As we emerge from the pandemic and look to invest in the future, let’s invest in our kids’ potential. Let’s continue to grow access to high quality pre-K programs for the more than 100,000 3- and 4-year-olds who don’t have the opportunity to attend this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity due to limited funding.

Let’s make sure that all of Pennsylvania’s K-12 schools are funded adequately so all kids have the promise of a bright future that a quality education can help guarantee. Let’s do everything we can to help ensure our kids are walking into a lifetime of opportunity.

John Peck is Westmoreland County district attorney.