Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, December 19, 1994 TAG: 9412200029
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Among these: quality preschool for all at-risk 4-year-olds in the state of Virginia. Think of it as repairing a leaky roof now to avoid water damage to your home and furnishings later.
Consider these statistics from the 1993 results in the most recent of an ongoing series of studies coming out of Ypsilanti, Mich., which started in the late 1960s and has tracked poor black children through the age of 27:
Nearly three-fourths of those who went to preschool went on to graduate from high school, 71 percent, compared to 54 percent of those in the same at-risk group who did not attend preschool.
The at-risk preschoolers were four times more likely to legitimately earn annual salaries over $24,000 by the age of 27, with 29 percent doing so as compared to only 7 percent of the non-preschoolers.
Fifty-seven percent of girls and young women who had attended preschool gave birth out-of-wedlock, a discouraging figure. But vastly better than the 83 percent of non-preschoolers who did so.
More than half of the at-risk youngsters who had preschool - 59 percent - needed social services. But this was far fewer than the 80 percent in need among the non-preschoolers.
While 7 percent of the preschoolers later were arrested five or more times by the time they were 27 years old, 35 percent of the at-risk kids who did not attend preschool ended up with such arrest records.
Among the preschoolers, 36 percent owned a home by the time they were 27, compared to 13 percent of the non-preschoolers.
Even quality preschool that involves parents, a crucial element to children's continued success, obviously is not a cure-all for the maladies afflicting the nation and particularly the poor. A 29 percent drop-out rate, for example, is still appalling. But it's a lot better than 46 percent, the rate at which the children without this boost up gave up without their diplomas.
So what's the bottom line? Try $60 million.
The Virginia Conference on Preschool for At-Risk Children estimates that a little more than half the at-risk 4-year-olds in Virginia, 11,145 kids, are not getting adequate preschooling. Public education from kindergarten through grade 12 costs taxpayers about $52,800 per student. It costs another $5,400 per student per year for good preschool. That's $60 million more each year.
The money would make the rest of the state's investment in public education yield far more of a return. The Ypsilanti study projected that long-range benefits of preschool were worth $7.16 to the public for every $1 spent.
The goal of reaching all at-risk 4-year-olds is endorsed not only by the Urban Leagues and the United Ways of Virginia but, among others, Virginia Power Inc., the Northern Virginia Planning District Commission and Central Fidelity Bank. They know this is about promoting future prosperity as well as improving lives.
by CNB