(CNSNews.com) – National law enforcement leaders were in Washington on Wednesday to unveil a report they said offers evidence that government-funded preschool can help prevent children from dropping out of high school and turning to a life of crime.
 
But some experts questioned whether a new and costly federal program is the best way to keep all American kids in school and instill values that will lead them to become successful and productive citizens.
 
“We looked very, very carefully at the research result, and we found that high quality early education can make a huge difference,” David Kass, president of the youth advocacy group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, told reporters at a press briefing at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
 
However, “research shows disparate results (of pre-kindergarten programs),” Don Soifer, executive vice president of the Lexington Institute, a conservative group, told CNSNews.com. The research has also shown that such programs can cause behavioral problems in some children, he said.
 
The Fight Crime: Invest in Kids report, called “School or the Streets,” stated that increasing graduation rates by 10 percent will prevent 3,000 homicides and 175,000 aggravated assaults in the United States every year and save more than $10 billion annually in reduced crime-related costs.

“I think we can cut this cycle (of violence) by introducing kids to learning at a much earlier age,” Tom Streicher, chief of police of Cincinnati, Ohio, said at the event. “We believe that high quality pre-kindergarten education is something that is critical and that exposure to that kind of learning, that friendly atmosphere, that loving and caring atmosphere is something they are more than likely missing in their personal lives.”
 
“Those goals are noble. Nobody is disputing that,” Soifer told CNSNews.com.
 
But Soifer, who co-wrote a 27-page report released in March on the economic and sociological impact of a federally funded and operated universal pre-kindergarten program, said creating another government bureaucracy isn’t the panacea some claim.
 
While the Lexington Institute report cited studies that find low-income and at-risk children can benefit from quality pre-school programs, it also found evidence that the benefits for other children are limited and that pre-school can even create behavioral problems in some children.
 
Soifer said he and co-author Robert Holland also reported that the private sector and faith-based organizations are already providing the vast majority of quality pre-school programs and offer parents a wide range of choice, enabling them to find the right program for their children – a choice he said could be damaged or displaced by a universal pre-kindergarten program.
 
The Lexington Institute’s examination of the cost-effectiveness of universal pre-kindergarten includes analysis of a slew of congressional proposals on early childhood education and the presumed presidential candidates’ stand on the issue.
 
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) calls his plan “Zero to Five,” which promotes placing infants in government-run preschools. Obama proposed that the federal government spend $10 billion a year “to ensure all children have access to pre-school.”
 
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is cited in the Lexington report as making parental choice a hallmark of his education plan. McCain said he “will place parents and children at the center of the education process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to choose among schools for their children.”
 
Soifer agreed with Fight Crime: Invest in Kids that existing federal programs like Head Start are beneficial to low-income children, but he argued that it makes more sense economically to improve and expand that program rather than create a new one.
 
“Writing a blank check for a new federal program isn’t going to stand up to cost-benefit,” Soifer said.
 
The Fight Crime: Invest in Kids group advocates for a pre-kindergarten program that includes coaching parents and home visitations by experts.
 
Soifer’s report went even further on the importance of family, citing that parents are by far the greatest influence on their children’s future, with or without universal pre-school.

But Boston District Attorney Daniel Conley said at Wednesday’s briefing that the government has a responsibility to get more involved in regulating early childhood education for American children.
 
“Too many times I have seen young people fail or drop out of school only to end up in police custody shortly thereafter,” Conley said in his prepared statement. “I’m here today with my colleagues to ask Congress, state and local governments to fully fund early childhood education.”