What if Georgia’s state lawmakers could create an education program today that would effectively help young children become lifelong learners, cost the state not a single penny of tax revenues, and actually reduced other tax expenditures in the state budget? It isn’t a dream and the program doesn’t need to be created. It already exists: Georgia pre-kindergarten.
Georgia pre-k has been serving more than half of the state’s 4-year-olds for the last decade. Along with HOPE scholarships and grants, Georgia pre-k is funded exclusively by the state lottery, and in recent years has received around $1 for every $2 that the Legislature has appropriated for HOPE.
Georgia pre-k has become the state’s “Little Engine that Could.” It is one of the nation’s largest and oldest statewide preschool programs and is nationally recognized for its high quality.
As a report we released Tuesday shows, Georgia pre-k has been helping thousands of children become school-ready over several years.
As a result, Georgia pre-k’s children are far less likely to have to repeat a grade in k-12 schools. In fact, a study by scholars at Georgia State University showed children with no preschool were twice more likely to repeat kindergarten than children who had a year of Georgia pre-k.
As a result, as the numbers of Georgia pre-k children have increased and moved through the k-12 schools, the rate of grade retention in the state has begun to decline. Since 2005, the grade retention rate in public schools has steadily declined to 3.8 percent in 2010. In turn, the rate of student dropouts in the state’s middle schools and high schools has begun to decline. And in the last few years, the number of students placed in special education classes has dropped.
All of these trends are the proven effects of high-quality pre-k. A good, early start in learning at the age of 4 does wonders for helping children succeed in later grades.
These pre-k educational effects have begun to save the state tax expenditures. By dropping the rate of grade retention — by reducing the number of students who had to have an extra year of schooling, Georgia pre-k helped the state save more than $30 million in tax expenditures last year. During the next six years (2011-2016), Georgia pre-k will help the state realize $212 million in reduced tax expenditures. And the savings in tax expenditures will continue to grow if Georgia pre-k can reach more children and maintain a high-quality program across the state.
Georgia pre-k is the one and only state government program that actually reduces tax expenditures without spending tax revenues.
The lottery-funded HOPE scholarships and grants may relieve some families of the primary costs of college-going, but increases in HOPE costs require more state tax expenditures — not less.
When the number of students receiving HOPE expands, the state usually must increase state tax expenditures to support increased college enrollment. When the state cuts tax expenditures for public universities and colleges, these state institutions often increase revenues through hikes in tuition, which to date HOPE covers.
The long-term economic gains for the whole state from Georgia pre-k also are enormous over time. If children start school-ready, they are much more likely to perform better in school, stay out of trouble with the law, graduate on time from high school, and attend college. These benefits mean less long-term costs for the state budgets and more education and income for the whole state.
Economist Robert Lynch projects that within four decades Georgia would realize a return of $5.12 in tax revenues and savings for every $1 of lottery funds spent on high-quality Georgia pre-k.
Georgia pre-k is a tiny part of the overall state budget. In 2011, it is less than 2 percent of all state expenditures — less than two pennies for every dollar in the state budget. Yet, it is a small program having a huge impact in Georgia now and in the future.
A generation of Georgia children is beginning to realize life-changing opportunities to improve their own education and lives by starting school ready to learn. This is the promise of Georgia pre-k. It is saving tax expenditures now. It will help build the state’s economy in the decades ahead. Georgia pre-k is not child care. It is early education at a time when it can do the most good. It is not a luxury. It is a necessity for our state’s best future.
Everyone gains from the early learning of 4-year-olds in Georgia pre-k. It is that simple.
Kent McGuire is president of the Southern Education Foundation.
Steve Suitts is SEF’s vice president.
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