Early Childhood Education A Key To Growth

Reduced funding Early childhood education has been put on the front burner as a focus for the woes of the current environment. The considerable amount of cuts Missouri has done to the early childhood programs has been recognized as a downfall of progress. 

A study performed by the  Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis shows spending money on early childhood education is one of the best investments that a state or a community can make. The study as reported by the post dispatch clearly focused on early childhood education as an economic development tool. The authors compared investment in early childhood education with other economic development indicators and found a much larger return on investment, about $8 for every $1 invested, than any other form of state spending or tax credit.

 To cut the preschool funding is traveling down the wrong path. The best way to acknowledge support evidence is improved learning shows reduced crime and savings in future corrections and mental health budgets.

Governor Nixon of Missouri and State Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, wants to increase funding for pre-school programs such as Head Start, reversing some of the cuts made last year, and help school districts and other pre-kindergarten programs meet a growing need.