RE: Question 1: Pre-school support-What's in the Plan

I am the working group consultant for the School Readiness working group, and I want to acknowledge Janice Brittain's question regarding the budget and how the early education items fit in with other Master Plan recommendations. The seven working groups were asked to design a 20-year future for education in California--a future that guarantees access and opportunity for every child, that is learner-focused, using a system that provides more seamless transitions as students advance through it.  Creating such an education system is expensive, but the system we already have is also expensive.  We expect to create savings as well as new costs as the Master Plan is implemented, recognizing that expensive changes must be phased-in as funds are available.  I also cite the study Karen Hill-Scott mentioned earlier, the Chicago Child-Parent Center Program.  It demonstrated savings of over $7 per $1 spent on the program because of reduction of expenditures for items such as remedial services, special education, and juvenile crime. There is ample other research that indicates that dollars invested in early education pay dividends later for both students and taxpayers. So, we should reduce new costs with some savings and efficiencies, although I believe we will ultimately need additional funds.  We will be discussing this further tomorrow for the Finance day of on-line dialogue.