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News Article
April 2, 2006
Ridgecrest Daily Independent
Law enforcement officials support Proposition 82 on June ballot
On the upcoming June ballot, Proposition 82 posits the establishment of affordable standards-based preschool for all California four-year olds and will tax the wealthiest Californians in order to do so. It is called the Preschool for All Act (PSAA).
On Thursday, the California Police Chiefs Association and the California State Sheriffs’ Association officially announced their support of this measure in a live and phoned press conference.
Representatives of police and sheriff departments from up and down the state discussed the merits of Prop. 82 alongside FCIKC Director Barrie Becker and Senior Policy Advisor Catherine Hazelton, citing both short- and long-term research on the subject.
Livermore Police Chief Steve Krull said that an investment in high quality preschool will “reap benefits for generations to come. Police chiefs and sheriffs support Prop. 82 because research proves that quality preschool gets kids ready to learn, read and become productive members of society.”
According to PSAA supporters, 80 percent of California’s pre-kindergartners don’t have access to a quality preschool, greatly increasing the odds that they will drop out of school and embrace crime as they grow up.
Los Angeles Sheriff Leroy Baca agreed.
“The research shows that children who attend high quality preschools are better readers in elementary school — they are also more likely to end up in caps and gowns than in handcuffs,” Baca said. “Prop. 82 represents the wisest investment we can make in the education of our children and in the safety of our state.”
Referring to three lengthy studies conducted on the long term affects of preschool versus no preschool by the RAND Corporation, the High Scope/ Perry Program and Chicago’s Child-Parent Center Program, FCIKC officials cited statistics that held up the premise that children who don’t attend preschool are much more likely to become criminal offenders by age 18 and chronic criminal offenders by age 27. In fact, the Perry report, which closely followed one group of inner city children from Ypsilanti, Mich. for over forty-five years, codified that children who attend preschool do better in all aspects of their lives.
Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters is firmly behind Prop. 82.
“If we want our streets to be as safe as they can be and our kids to achieve as much as possible, we need to pass Prop. 82,” Walters said and added that he believed preschool gave the best chance for success “in reading, school and life ... and kids who attend preschool had higher literacy and math achievement, were less likely to be held back a grade or be placed in special education and more likely to graduate high school on time.”
Prop. 82 is needed, proponents say, because many families do not have access to and/or can’t afford high quality preschool and that the fiscal return to California residents on their initial investment would be about $2.62 for every dollar invested in this effort.
Over four decades, the Perry Study found the return to be 17-1.
Opponents of Prop. 82 say the measure is too loosely worded; that there is no sub-agency in place to make sure the money is spent properly; that the authors of 82 have not spelled out access for English learners and special needs children; and that the term “quality preschool” has not been adequately defined in the bill as to what must be included and what should be included.
Last week, a Field Poll showed that only one-third of likely voters had even heard of this measure — but after reading a summary, 55 percent said they would probably vote yes. Women proved more likely to vote yes on 82 than men and those who characterized themselves as conservative were generally against it. The poll’s sampling error rate was estimated at 4.5 percentage points.