Mechanicsburg Borough police chief advocates for early education ...

David Spotts cannot help but wonder sometimes if at-risk children really, truly have a chance.

A veteran police officer and current police chief of Mechanicsburg Borough Police Department, Spotts has been to plenty of scenes where the family dynamic combined with a disadvantaged background sets a child up for future trouble with the law.

?No matter how capable our officers are or how many criminals we arrest, we?re never going to solve this long-term problem,? he said. ?The bottom line is if we can divert a kid in the first place, keep people from going into the system, we are so far ahead and better off in the long run.?

Spotts called on state lawmakers Tuesday to restore funding for early childhood education as a strategy to reduce crime, lower prison costs and save taxpayers money.

The chief spent part of his morning reading to pre-schoolers enrolled at the Mechanicsburg Learning and Play Center on East Main Street. He was joined in the classroom by State Sen. Pat Vance, R-31, and by state Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-86, who support early intervention programs.

The event was organized by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a bipartisan organization of law enforcement officers, prosecutors and survivors of violent crime who advocate prevention through investments in early childhood education.

Pay now or pay more later

In his budget, Gov. Tom Corbett proposed a 5 percent reduction in funding for the Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts and Head Start programs, according to Bruce Clash, state director of Fight Crime. Both these programs target 3- and 4-year-old children living in poverty.

Research has shown at-risk children who receive a high quality early education are less likely to be arrested and incarcerated later in life, Clash said. He defined ?at-risk? as low-income families and/or households where there is divorce, domestic violence or substance abuse.

As a state, Pennsylvania is spending about $1.8 billion a year on its prison system compared to a little more than $200 million on early childhood education, Clash said. Yet studies show that every dollar spent on early education returns a yield of $16 from reduced crime, less reliance on social service programs, more tax revenue and greater productivity.

?Investment on the front end is what works,? Clash said.

Judith Ingram is an early childhood consultant for the Mechanicsburg Area School District, where she used to work as an elementary school principal.

Brain research shows the most dramatic period of intellectual development takes place between age 3 and the third-grade, Ingram said. ?We want to put the money on the greatest amount of growth so that, hopefully, the children make better choices later on.?

Ingram is concerned a cut in Pre-K Counts funding would force the Mechanicsburg center next year to drop the transportation service it offers to the neediest families. It is felt that transportation would be the least painful of all the line-items to cut.

?You can?t take away salaries, insurance, upkeep and maintenance,? Ingram said.

?No easy decision?

Center director Billie Jo Burger explained that of the 51 students enrolled at the day care center, about 48 percent come from a family living at or below the poverty line. Of the 10 students receiving help through the Pre-K Counts program, six receive transportation services.

Those receiving the service come from families where the wage-earner is unable to drop off or pick up the child due to a conflicting work schedule or where the family has only one vehicle, which the wage-earner uses for work, Burger said.

She explained how a potential cut in transportation would mean these families would either have to find alternative means of transportation or drop the program entirely.

?Without state or federal funding, our center could not operate,? Burger said.

The state Senate, in its version of the 2012-2013 budget, restored Pre-K Counts funding to its current-year levels, Clash said. His hope is that the state House of Representatives will follow through.

The House plans to start its review of the budgetary line-items next week, Delozier said. She supports early childhood education as a way for at-risk children to develop into productive members of their community.

?We need to invest in early education,? Vance said. ?It is no easy decision what to fund and what not to fund. All those who come before us are worthy causes.? She added the challenge is how to provide for these needs while being sensitive to the burden placed on taxpayers.

Programs like Head Start and Pre-K Counts have a proven track record of success, Spotts said. ?These programs help us to identify at-risk kids and give them a safe and solid environment in which to engage their minds.?

Article source: http://cumberlink.com/news/local/mechanicsburg-borough-police-chief-advocates-for-early-education/article_8483763a-9f01-11e1-a730-001a4bcf887a.html

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