In any given scenario, individuals do not have infinite options. As this applies to cost, people must make choices on a regular basis between two options. When this comes at the cost of one of those options, this is known as the opportunity cost. Opportunity cost deals with mutually exclusive options in which the value of one option must be weighed against the value of another and a choice made between those two. Opportunity cost is a component of economic theory and relates to scarcity and the choices individuals and organizations must make given a lack of infinite resources. Financial decisions are sometimes made to save an individual money, or to save an organization money. At a large scale level, states and nations must allocate resources and divert financial support to areas of high priority. Given a lack of infinite tax revenues and an inability to distribute to all of its agencies, a state must choose where to send its limited resources. Unfortunately, in many cases, this leads to cuts in education to support other government functions. These types of choices, diverting financial resources away from education, has occurred in states such as Texas (Collier, 2015) and Kansas (Lowry, 2015). However, these decisions are short sighted. Diverting finances away from education has a detrimental impact on students. Increasingly, researchers are finding that there are significant benefits to early education, such as Pre-Kindergarten. Diverting funds away from early education restricts the ability of students to maximize their achievement potential.
Follow-up studies were conducted to determine whether the value of investment in a child’s pre-k education continued into working adulthood. Researchers found that participants in a quality pre-k program typically had higher earnings than those that did not (“Economic Benefits of Quality Preschool Education for America’s 3- and 4-year Olds,” 2015). In a research study among 27 year olds that were part of a quality pre-k program as children themselves, it was found that they took home higher monthly earnings than their peers who did not attend such programs. These same individuals were often linked to higher levels of schooling, such as graduate degrees, which were also linked to higher income wages. As with earlier studies of 20 year olds, 27 year olds continued to demonstrate less incidents of delinquency in the form of arrests, as well as had less need for the assistance of social services. An early childhood investment in a quality pre-k program is linked to long term, adulthood benefits in the form of higher earning workers that have less need for dependence on social services. This forms a dual economic benefits for states, who can experience the benefit of tax revenues and reduced investment costs due to having to supply social services with funds.
Early, quality pre-school education has a benefit on childhood development well into elementary school (Feinberg, Burchinal, Clifford, Culkin, Howes, Kagan, and Yazejiran, 2003). In a longitudinal study of pre-school students from pre-kindergarten through third grade (N = 733), children between the ages of 4 to 8 were measured in terms of their cognitive and social development. Children that attended a quality pre-k program were considered against those that did not. The results of the study demonstrated that early quality education was linked to accelerated patterns of cognitive development and social interaction. Children that attend a quality pre-k program are more likely to acquire knowledge and socializing skills earlier, and to demonstrate them more strongly, into elementary school.
Findings of positive impact among individuals that attended a quality pre-k program were not limited to elementary school. In fact, the residual effects of a quality pre-k program can be felt into adulthood (“Economic Benefits of Quality Preschool Education for America’s 3- and 4-year Olds,” 2015). In a study of 20 year olds, those that attended a quality pre-k program were more likely to finish high school than those that weren’t. These same individuals were less likely to have been held back a grade, less likely to have ever been arrested, and less likely to have needed remedial help. The researchers estimated that for every single dollar spent on a child’s quality pre-school education, there was a $7 return cumulative over the lifetime. If a child’s pre-k education cost $10,000, the return on the investment was $70,000 by adulthood. Taken as a whole, a quality pre-k education has an extraordinary impact on a child’s educational and social development, but also on the financial gains a state experiences.
States often make cuts to education in a shortsighted attempt to shore up annual finances. However, research shows that more investments into pre-k need to be done, not less. Although a state may consider pre-k to be a secondary investment, there are long-term benefits to this investment that can impact a state’s finances for not just a few years, but for decades to come. Within the constraints of the opportunity cost frame, states often present the decision to increase funding to education as a cost that must be avoided in order to fund other areas of the government. Education is often cut in favor of increased funding toward state advertisements for tourist dollars, general payroll, or to offset the negative impacts of tax cuts made in the hope of luring new business. However, the decision to cut education funds for these reasons is because politicians only weight the immediate cost benefits rather than the long ones. By prioritizing education, politicians could help increase a state’s long term solvency by raising a generation of better educated, less troubled individuals.
- Collier, K. (2015, August 31). 2011 Budget Cuts Still Hampering Schools, by Kiah Collier. Retrieved January 29, 2016, from http://www.texastribune.org/2015/08/31/texas-schools-still-feeling-2011-budget-cuts/
- Economic Benefits of Quality Preschool Education for America’s 3- and 4-year Olds. (2015). Retrieved 2015, from http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/boe/ComprehensiveReview/PreK%20Programs/Economic%20Benefits%20of%20Quality%20Preschool%20Education.pdf
- Lowry, B. (2015, July 30). Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget cuts announced. Retrieved January 29, 2016, from http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article29585017.html
- Peisner-Feinberg, E. S., Burchinal, M. R., Clifford, R. M., Culkin, M. L., Howes, C., Kagan, S. L., & Yazejian, N. (2001). The Relation of Preschool Child-Care Quality to Children’s Cognitive and Social Developmental Trajectories through Second Grade. Child Development, 72(5), 1534-1553. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00364
