WSA News Release - Head Start and ECEAP save money for the K-12 systems

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High Quality Pre-K Programs Save Taxpayers Money Right Away
In Significant Reduction in Special Education Services in K-12;
Investments in Head Start and ECEAP Should Be Increased, Not Cut

3/14/2010, Bellevue, Washington

WSA was challenged by several lawmakers in Olympia and in DC to prove to them that high quality early learning programs not only deliver promised long term savings suggested in numerous earlier studies, but could actually deliver savings right away. Long term benefits of high quality Pre-K programs like Head Start and ECEAP are well known – higher graduation rates, reduced involvement in the criminal justice system, and higher paying jobs post-graduation. What studies and school districts are finding now, however, is that these programs start paying off almost immediately, as early intervention and high quality instruction lead to reduced spending on special education and remedial programs in K-12.

These savings are not insignificant. A very conservative estimate in Washington is that a non special-education student costs the state $65,500 to educate, while a student in special education costs more than twice that - $165,500. This does not include remedial services for students who are behind, but do not meet the criteria for “special education” services. Studies have shown that quality pre-k programs like Head Start and ECEAP can reduce the number of children in Special Education up to 48%. We can pay now or pay much more later - the examples below clearly demonstrate that Head Start, ECEAP, and investments in high-quality early learning and system improvements in general show measurable benefits almost immediately for the child, but also the taxpayer.

Research

• Montgomery County, Maryland study sees savings up to $10,100 per child per year
A 2010 Montgomery County report found that children that enrolled in a full day Head Start program were 66 percent less likely to need special education services in kindergarten than their peers. Taking the cost of special education into account it is estimated that for each child enrolled in full day Head Start taxpayers saved $10,100 in kindergarten. The Head Start children averaged 3.7 hours of special education services per week in kindergarten, compared to 9.8 hours for students that did not attend full day Head Start.

• Bremerton, WA School District sees savings up to $3,000 per child per year
Bremerton School District has taken a systemic approach to improving outcomes in their schools, aligning the curriculum of Head Start and ECEAP with the K-12 system, expanding Head Start services and providing training and curriculum to other pre-school programs in the area. It is estimated that Bremerton saves $3000 per year/per child in reduced high-intensity interventions – special education services, individualized one-on-one instruction, time in remedial reading groups, etc. The Bremerton School District estimates an annual cost savings of up to $800,000 for children who would have needed intensive intervention had they not been involved in a high quality pre-school experience.

• Crime Prevention Group estimates $240 million/year could be saved By Investing in ECEAP
Last year, the legislature committed to serving all children eligible for ECEAP by 2018. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids estimated that doing this could save the state up to $120 million each year in special education costs alone, and an additional $120 million by reducing grade retention. Serving all children who want it would cost the state $600 million, an amount that would be paid back to taxpayers in less than 3 years in K-12 savings.

Successes in Washington Programs

• Head Start Director Sees Behavior Issues Addressed Before Kindergarten
Dorlan Hergesheimer, an Eastern Washington Head Start/ECEAP director, has seen countless successful interventions in his program. “Many children come into Head Start with not only speech delays, but challenging behaviors primarily because of issues they are dealing with at home. Trained family advocates work hard to help the family become stable and work with the parent to improve their interactions with a child, while teachers work closely with children in the classroom to prepare them. Because of this work, Head Start children that arrived in preschool with severe behavioral issues no longer have them once they enter kindergarten. This means that the kindergarten teacher can actually teach, and the elementary school does not have to provide intensive therapy and special education services. Once children are routed into a special education track in kindergarten it is very difficult to get rid of the label and that child may end up utilizing these services throughout their public school years.”

• Kylee’s Story: Head Start Staff Help Eliminate Speech Impediment
Kylee Allen, a parent from Oak Harbor, had a child with a serious speech impediment. Delaney’s Head Start program identified and addressed her speech issues problem with therapy, then worked closely with the school district on the transition into K-12. Today Delaney is in 3rd grade, no longer receives any special services, and is scoring above the 80th percentile on all the language-related assessments that were such a challenge before.

• Elizabeth’s Story: Daughter Had Developmental Delays; Now Winner of Governor’s Award
Elizabeth Grillett, a Tacoma ECEAP parent, had a similar experience. Her daughter Kylee was referred to ECEAP by her pediatrician, who suspected developmental delays. The teachers and family advocates worked with Kylee and Elizabeth closely, putting together an individualized plan that would intensively address the areas where Kylee needed the most help in getting ready for kindergarten. Kylee was able to avoid special education altogether, and today she is a top 5th grade student, one of the recipients of the Governor’s Award for having the highest WASL scores at her elementary school.

• April’s Story: Program Uncovered Hearing Problems
April Terry, a parent from the ESD 113 Head Start/ECEAP program in Elma, had serious concerns about her daughter Lauryn’s development, which she repeatedly expressed to her pediatrician without success. It wasn’t until she entered school that her teachers, seeing a child with very few words and a problem with inattention, referred Lauryn and April to a speech therapist and a hearing specialist. After a hearing test determined that she was 75% deaf in one ear, 25% in the other, Lauryn underwent a simple surgery and returned to school with an individualized learning plan and 20 minutes of speech therapy a week. Today a child who spoke virtually no intelligible words at age 3 and a half is at the top of her kindergarten class, with no special education services required. Further delay in diagnosing Lauryn’s hearing problem would have led to lasting effects on her language development.

• ECEAP Teacher Sees Immediate Cost Savings; Reduction in Need of $70 per hour Speech Pathologist
Barbe Porter, an ECEAP teacher in South Bend has seen many children that required an IEP (Individual Education Plan) while in ECEAP, but no longer needed services by the time they reached kindergarten. This, she says, saves taxpayers money immediately. One example is that often the district does not need to pay for speech pathologists and the one-on-one assistance needed with children who have difficulty with language. These services can be quite costly, upwards of $70 per hour. She credits ECEAP’s language rich environment, dedicated teachers, and the work the program does with parents in getting them to read to their children as the key ingredients to ECEAP’s success.

If you would like to talk to a Head Start or ECEAP program in your area, we would be happy to facilitate that . Contact Katy Warren at 206.291.2021 or Joel Ryan at 253.486.9177.