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Early Education will Aid Economic Growth

The Springfield Republican
Sunday, February 19, 2006

By JOHN DAVIS and STEPHEN DAVIS

As local leaders wrestle with ways to revive Springfield's ailing economy and take steps to develop a long-term economic development strategy, growing evidence on the economic impact of early education should offer cause for hope - and action.

Recently, a group of business and political leaders and representatives of the Davis Foundation and its Cherish Every Child Initiative traveled to a conference in New York City on the benefits of early education to our economy.

Sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust, the Committee for Economic Development and PNC Financial Services Group, "Building the Economic Case for Investments in Preschool" brought together Britain's Minister of State for Children, a Nobel Prize winning economics professor, two governors of the Federal Reserve Board and other business leaders around the issue of quantifying the return on investments in early childhood education.

What attendees heard, while maybe not revolutionary, certainly should adjust how all of us think about the early learning years and their linkage to real economic growth. In a classic case of "pay me now, or pay me later," Nobel laureate James J. Heckman told conferees that early intervention for disadvantaged children promotes staying in school, raises the quality of the overall workforce, enhances the productivity of schools, and has the effect of reducing crime, teen pregnancy and dependence on welfare. Heckman told the group such investments not only raise social attachments among those in early education programs but raise incomes as well. He and others, such as Federal Reserve Board Governor Arthur Rolnick, have quantified the return on investment as between 15 and 17 percent.

The Brookings Institution estimates that investments in universal preschool would yield an increase in the gross domestic product of nearly $1 trillion within 60 years. A representative of Zogby International, the respected public opinion polling group, shared results of a new survey that finds four out of five U. S. business leaders supporting publicly funded pre-kindergarten.

So, with such a deep and growing reservoir of data suggesting early education investments pay off, why hasn't this idea risen to the top of the public policy agenda? It may have something to do with the fact that initial investments are relatively high and that it will take a number of years before society reaps its return on these investments.

Our view is that failure to invest in early education ignores a clear road map for improving the prospects of children in our urban cores such as Springfield. It will take this kind of long-range thinking to develop a true "new economy" in Springfield and in Massachusetts.

We are fortunate that on this issue of early intervention our Legislature is clearly in the forefront. Over the past two years, 66 percent of Beacon Hill lawmakers have co-sponsored An Act Establishing Early Education for All, legislation that - if passed - would make voluntary, universally accessible high-quality early childhood education available to all preschool-aged children in the commonwealth. The Legislature and Gov. W. Mitt Romney also established and funded the new Department of Early Education and Care to administer the state's early education system. On the horizon and over the next few years will be the development of a universal pre-kindergarten system that includes the current private providers in partnership with the Springfield school system.

The fact that our local business and political leadership gets this message about the economic importance of early education was evidenced by the fact that attendees to the New York conference included Carol Baribeau of Verizon, Tim Brennan of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, Ron Copes from Mass Mutual, Russ Denver from the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, Phil Puccia, executive director of the Springfield Finance Control Board, and Robert Schwarz from Peter Pan Bus Lines. With advocates such as these, this big idea about how we can change the fortunes of our very young is here to stay. Springfield's economic vitality will surely depend upon it.

John and Stephen Davis are trustees of the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation.

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