Few educators will deny that the younger we begin educating our kids, the better the chances they’ll have at succeeding in school. That, in fact, is the justification behind the state’s new venture into the field of universal pre-kindergarten education.

it’s going to be expensive. But will it be worth it?

Pre-K education helps children — especially low-income and minority children — catch up to their more affluent peers, according to respected studies like those done by the High/Scope Perry and Chicago Child-Parent Centers and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort. The fact that not all children benefit equally raises the question of whether state taxpayers should be providing this extra level of education to families that either can afford pre-K on their own or whose children might not need it.

There’s less clear evidence to demonstrate how long the benefit of pre-K lasts. Some studies track improvements through the higher grades and into adulthood, while others say the benefit becomes negligible as kids approach the middle-school years. That’s a consideration when looking at how much to invest.

If there is long-term value beyond kindergarten, then that could help offset the cost of pre-K programs by reducing the need for intervention programs in the later grades. Pre-K could actually save taxpayers money if the beneficiaries of it don’t need extra services to keep them in school or to keep up with their studies.

Source: http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2014/apr/06/prek/