The benefits of preschool extend well beyond test scores, the author writes. Universal preschool raises bar

Consider some of the toughest long-term challenges we face today — growing inequality, parents struggling to balance work and family — and an education system in which too many children are falling behind before they even start school. Though these challenges seem daunting, there’s one policy that addresses all of them: universal high-quality preschool. That’s why, though other issues may get more attention, President Barack Obama’s proposal in the State of the Union and his speech Thursday at a Georgia pre-K center are game changers.

Scores of studies demonstrate that early education can have an enormous impact on a child’s cognitive and emotional development, dramatically improving school readiness and academic achievement. And high-quality preschool is a key reason why Finland now scores at the top in international student assessments.


But the benefits of preschool extend well beyond test scores. Research shows that an at-risk child who doesn’t receive high-quality early childhood intervention is 25 percent more likely to drop out of school; 40 percent more likely to become a teen parent; 50 percent more likely to be placed in special education; 60 percent more likely not to attend college; and 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime.

Thanks to these kinds of impacts, investments in early childhood education generate very large returns. For example, the National Institutes of Health projects that Chicago’s preschool program will produce up to “$11 of economic benefits over a child’s lifetime for every dollar spent initially on the program.” And the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis calculated that a well-studied Michigan program delivered a real rate of return of 16 percent. Indeed, even after excluding the benefits to the children who participated, the rate of return to the general public still exceeded 12 percent. To put those numbers in perspective, the stock market’s annual rate of return from the end of World War II through 2008 was only 5.8 percent.

Despite these returns, some people will surely worry that we can’t afford to spend more money on a new government program right now. But the truth is that public investment in high-quality early education more than pays for itself. For example, Chicago’s preschool program is projected to produce $2.90 of governmental budgetary gains for each dollar invested. One reason is that preschool increases children’s future earnings, as well as their parents’ earnings, which translates into more government tax revenue. In addition, if the government invests in preschool today, it will need to spend a lot less in the future on things like special education, child welfare services, the criminal justice system and health care.

Other critics fret that young children should stay at home with their parents rather than go to a public preschool. But pre-K would be completely voluntary. The real challenge facing parents today is how to manage the competing demands of work and family. This is a source of serious stress and anxiety, and it’s become a major pocketbook issue for low- and middle-income families. With only one-third of children growing up with a stay-at-home parent, a family with young kids now spends an average of more than 10 percent of its income on child care.

The work-family tension is especially acute for women. Although they are now the primary or co-breadwinners in most families, women spend more than twice as much time as men caring for children. And the extra assistance would be particularly important for the growing number of lower-income, single mothers, who struggle to raise their kids on a single paycheck without a spouse to help with child care responsibilities.

In a time of scarce resources, we should make smart investments. And the smartest investment we can make is in our future. Universal pre-K would deliver enormous lifelong benefits, especially for those children who already are beginning their lives at an unfair disadvantage, while also providing critical child care assistance for working parents.

With all these benefits, early childhood education shouldn’t be a partisan question. And indeed, Republican-controlled states like Oklahoma and Georgia have become national leaders on this issue. Support for increased state investments is also growing among governors from across the political spectrum, from Missouri Democrat Jay Nixon to Nevada Republican Brian Sandoval.

Republicans in the House should now take a cue from Republican governors. Put partisanship aside, and work with the president to make smart investments in our future and address the concerns of women and families.

Neera Tanden is the president of the Center for American Progress.