HOULTON — Noting that Maine taxpayers are spending more than $150 million a year on corrections, local law enforcement leaders have called on federal lawmakers to support high-quality early education as a critical strategy to reduce crime, lower prison costs and save taxpayers money. The law enforcement leaders say they oppose cuts to early education and support efforts to strengthen and improve current programs.
FUN TIME — Houlton Police Chief Butch Asselin, left, and Sheriff James Madore read to the children attending the Bird Street Headstart program on Monday as part of the Cops and Tots Event.
Houlton Chief of Police Butch Asselin and Aroostook County Sheriff Jim Madore signaled their support for early learning during a visit to the Houlton Head Start Center Monday to read to children in the early learning program and discuss the value of early childhood education. The national anti-crime organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids is sponsoring the event as part of a law enforcement campaign to promote support for high-quality early childhood education.
Citing a new research brief called “Pay Now or Pay Much More Later,” the law enforcement leaders said that investing in high-quality early care and education can help at-risk children in Maine succeed, significantly reduce the likelihood that they will commit crimes and save taxpayer dollars from reduced prison costs.
While overall crime rates are decreasing in many jurisdictions, Maine still spent $158 million in 2010 on corrections with over 2,200 adults locked up in either state or federal prisons on the first day of 2010. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Maine’s corrections spending has tripled from 1982 to 2008.
“We know and research shows that high-quality early childhood education can help kids start school ready to learn, graduate high school and avoid problem behaviors, reduce violent crime, improve public safety, and save taxpayers far more than they cost in the long run,” Asselin said.
“The need for high-quality early learning opportunities is great,” Asselin said. “Federally-funded Head Start programs like the one we are visiting today serve only half of eligible children nationwide, and less than 30 percent of eligible kids in Maine, due to inadequate funding. And the youngest children, from birth to age 3, are even more dramatically underserved. In fact, Early Head Start serves only about 3 percent of eligible infants and toddlers nationally.”
A long-term study of Michigan’s Perry Preschool found that at-risk children who did not participate in the high-quality program were five times more likely to be chronic offenders by age 27 than children who did attend. Because of their increased involvement in crime, the children who did not attend were 86 percent more likely to be sentenced to jail or prison by the age of 40.
The law enforcement leaders also agree that cutting funding for early childhood programs would be shortsighted and risky since quality early care and education programs actually save money in the long run. The Perry Preschool Program cut crime, welfare and other costs so much that it saved taxpayers an average of $180,000 for every child served, with the vast majority of the public savings coming from reduced crime costs alone.
Law enforcement leaders are urging policymakers to protect and strengthen early care and education programs. Asselin and Madore are encouraging Maine’s congressional delegation, specifically Sens. Snowe and Collins, to support maintaining the funding that was put in place for these programs in 2009 and 2010 because any cuts to these programs will hurt the 300,000 children nationally who are served in these programs.
“Budgets are tight, but we know that investing early will reap greater dividends in the long run,” Madore said. “The costs are clear. After many years working in law enforcement, we have reached an unmistakable conclusion — one way or another — we pay for at-risk kids. Either we pay on the front end by providing them a solid chance to succeed, or we pay a lot more for their failure. Providing more at-risk kids with quality early learning opportunities will help us prevent crime and reduce burdensome prison costs for years to come.”
Asselin and Madore are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, the national anti-crime organization of police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, attorneys general and violence survivors, with more than 110 members in Maine and over 5,000 members nationwide.
