More than 600 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and other law enforcement leaders in all 50 states delivered a letter to Congress, urging them to reject proposed cuts to early care and education programs as they continue intense negotiations over the federal budget. In the letter, the law enforcement leaders said that they support high-quality early education as a critical strategy to reduce crime, lower prison costs and save taxpayers money. Click here to view the letter.
The national anti-crime organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids is sponsoring a nationwide law enforcement campaign to promote support for high-quality early childhood education. Law enforcement leaders across the country are signaling their support during visits to early learning programs.
The letter to Congress from law enforcement leaders comes as the National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER)--a leading research organization on early learning--prepares to release a comprehensive state-by-state survey of pre-kindergarten programs on Tuesday. The NIEER report is expected to show that severe cuts to some state preschool programs has caused thousands of children to lose early care and education services. (For more information, go to www.nieer.org.)
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Law enforcement for Pre-K funding
Given Texas' ongoing debates over budget priorities, I was interested to see this press release:
What utter malarkey. In the current economic mess, everyone's belt must tighten.
ReplyDeleteThis letter would have much more moral authority had it demanded that the money be taken FROM law enforcement and given to early childhood education. I don't believe there is any strong evidence that cutting early childhood education funding has a significant impact on crime. It's a nice thought, but it is not a fact.
"This letter would have much more moral authority had it demanded that the money be taken FROM law enforcement and given to early childhood education"
ReplyDeleteThat would certainly be my preference.
Grits in a previous post you mentioned "Puppets to Prevent Delinquency". This talk was recommended in the previous lecture on brain science and delinquency.
ReplyDeleteproducer University of Washington, via the Research Channel
featuring Mark A. Emmert, Carolyn Webster-Stratton
format WMV, Quicktime
date 21/02/06
length 00:58:30
link http://www.uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.aspx?rID=2675
“Early onset aggression in children as young as age 3 is the single most-important predictor of later delinquency, substance abuse and violence.”
Prison Doc: This research has been duplicated in multiple studies and thus proven to help young children. Why do we continue to reject research that shows we can make a difference in behavior if we are just willing to do and pay for what works.
PBS just had a series on Autism that once again says early intervention (18 mths to 3yrs) makes the difference in many of these children.
Pay now or pay later and throw these kids on the CJ dump.
Why dont we just have DPS forward all that S/R surcharge money to fund this? just a thought. I personally believe there are cuts that must be made but education and public safety need to be low on the list.
ReplyDelete4/26/2011 12:33:00 PM said:
ReplyDelete"I don't believe there is any strong evidence that cutting early childhood education funding has a significant impact on crime. It's a nice thought, but it is not a fact."
There is definitely a connection between lack of education and crime. And, that is a fact. And, there is documented evidence that early childhood intervention increases the chance of educational success.
"I don't believe there is any strong evidence that cutting early childhood education funding has a significant impact on crime. It's a nice thought, but it is not a fact."
ReplyDeleteYou say the letter is utter malarkey, I say your statement is utter bullshit.
Nonsense, just more of the "we need more money for education" BS. For one thing, early childhood programs do not have a long enough track record to make such sweeping conclusions.
ReplyDeleteOK, I'll go back into my hole for awhile. I've learned before not to comment on topics where I am not an expert but I forget every now and again. Too bad others aren't similarly restrained.
So we spend money to teach the kids “To Respect the Blue” while they are young. Then we place them in handcuffs in High School for not giving a teacher their cell phone. Or we conduct non warranted searches on their person or automobile at will. I don’t think there is enough money in the world to make kids respect cops if the cops continue to enforce their own rules with no respect for the law themselves.
ReplyDelete(The handcuff issue happened last week at Round Rock High School. Have to love Williamson County.)
Prison Doc said:
ReplyDelete"For one thing, early childhood programs do not have a long enough track record to make such sweeping conclusions."
What? Are you saying 45 years isn't a long enough track record?