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Servants to one another

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WVC softball: Hanover Area’s Tuzinski strikes out 18 in extra-innings victory

<p>JACKSON TWP. &#8212; With perimeter cameras peering down and razor wire piled high behind them, advocates pushed Thursday for an increase in state funding for early childhood education, repeating the well-documented evidence that money spent on pre-school can pay huge dividends later in life by &#8212; among other things &#8212; keeping them from growing up into criminals.</p><p>&#8220;It is budget season and our hope is that access to state funded high quality pre-K will again be a priority,&#8221; Bruce Clash began a media conference near the double fencing of State Correctional Institute &#8212; Dallas</p><p>The Pennsylvania state director of &#8220;Fight Crime: Invest in Kids,&#8221; Clash stood flanked by nine area police department chiefs, Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, state Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel, and several other dignitaries.</p><p>They had gathered outside the imposing double-fence of SCI-Dallas to unveil a new report titled &#8220;Law Enforcement Agrees: High Quality Pre-K is Crime Prevention.&#8221; The report updates data backing a long-standing contention that investing in publicly-funded early education helps avoid more costly interventions later in life.</p><p>Studies have followed children for decades after getting into high quality pre-K, Salavantis said, and &#8220;the results are remarkable: Better performance in school, less special education, fewer high school drop outs and ultimately fewer crimes committed and a reduction in the number of prisoners.&#8221;</p><p>Statewide, about 56 percent of those eligible for publicly-funded pre school &#8212; about 98,000 children &#8212; &#8220;lack access because of limited funding,&#8221; she said. In Luzerne County the rate is worse, where 64 percent &#8212; 2,939 &#8212; of eligible children lack access.</p><p>Fight Crime: Invest in Kids is pushing for approval of Gov. Tom Wolf&#8217;s plan to increase spending for pre-K by $50 million in the 2019-20 state budget. $40 million would expand the state&#8217;s Pre-K Counts program, while the other $10 million would get more children into the federal Head Start program.</p><p>&#8220;Years of experience have taught us we can&#8217;t simply arrest, prosecute and incarcerate our way out of the crime problems that currently plague our communities,&#8221; Hanover Township Police Chief Albert Walker said. &#8220; We must be proactive, and implement strategies that keep people from turning to crime in the first place. And education must be a focal point of that strategy.&#8221;</p><p>Ingrid Everett, an education professor at Bloomsburg University, talked of the rapid development of the brain in the first three years, but also cited an instance where a mother was inspired by the support her child received and decided to go to college and get <em>her</em> degree.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s much greater than investing in the child. You&#8217;re actually investing in the whole community when you support early education.&#8221;</p><p>Gesturing toward the prison behind him, Wetzel noted 40 percent of the people who walk through the door this year &#8220;do not have a high school diploma.</p><p>&#8220;An intervention much earlier in their lives changes their trajectory.&#8221;</p><p>Wetzel quoted escaped slave and noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass.</p><p>&#8220;It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">State Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel joins advocates outside SCI-Dallas in pushing for more state funding for early education programs. He and others pointed to a new study showing such investments can reduce crime and prison populations. &#8216;We know the path,&#8217; Wetzler said, &#8216;We just have to walk it.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL041919Prison1.jpg</photo0><caption0>State Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel joins advocates outside SCI-Dallas in pushing for more state funding for early education programs. He and others pointed to a new study showing such investments can reduce crime and prison populations. &#8216;We know the path,&#8217; Wetzler said, &#8216;We just have to walk it.&#8217; </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL041919Prison2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Luzerne County District Attorney Stephanie Salavantis talks of the need for more state money to fund pre-kindergarten classes that research shows, can increase graduate rates and reduce crime and prison populations. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL041919Prison2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Luzerne County District Attorney Stephanie Salavantis talks of the need for more state money to fund pre-kindergarten classes that research shows, can increase graduate rates and reduce crime and prison populations. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Amid razor wire and prison blocks, advocates push for more early education money</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>