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By: Marty Schladen – Ohio Capital Journal

A paper issued last month by Scioto Analysis concluded that every dollar spent on universal pre-K in Ohio would produce $3.80 in benefits.

Unsurprisingly, most of that benefit comes in the form of greater future earnings of kids who attend pre-K and then show up to kindergarten prepared to learn, the analysis said.

“Seven dollars of every $10 of benefits generated by a universal prekindergarten program come from future labor market earnings of children,” Scioto Analysis Principal Rob Moore said in a written statement accompanying the report. “According to the evidence we have, universal prekindergarten could be a strong long-term economic development investment for Ohio.”

The Ohio state government doesn’t fund universal pre-K. Some cities, including Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, and Toledo, have funded pre-K programs that are less than universal.

Head Start is a federal pre-K program, but in Ohio and most other states, eligibility is generally restricted to families living at or below federal poverty guidelines. For a family of four, that’s less than $42,000 a year.

The Scioto Analysis report cited research showing that universal pre-K can benefit kids from middle-income families almost as much as it does those from poor ones.

In Ohio, 57% of three and four-year-olds were enrolled in pre-K in 2022. Using the Washington State Institute for Public Policy’s benefit-cost analysis of universal prekindergarten, the Scioto Analysis report modeled the impact on the economy if 71% of Ohio’s preschoolers went to prekindergarten.

It found that adding 29,000 Ohio kids to the program would benefit the economy by cutting the time kids would later spend repeating grades, in prison, or needing special education. But by far and away, the biggest benefit was in kids’ future earnings.

“This benefit occurs because children develop essential cognitive and social skills during prekindergarten which lead to higher academic achievement and better job prospects,” the report said.

In its draft of the biennial budget, the Republican leadership of the Ohio House has been generous to the state’s wealthiest interests.

The billionaire Haslam family wants $600 million to move the Browns out of downtown Cleveland and into a new stadium in Brook Park. House Finance Committee Chairman Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, built that funding into the budget, calling it “a once-in-a-lifetime project.” He added that new stadiums are “huge economic drivers.”

However, most economists who have studied them would disagree.

They say stadiums by and large don’t create new spending. Instead, they shift existing discretionary spending from one part of a regional economy to another, experts say

“The empirical evidence shows repeatedly that stadium subsidies fail to generate new tax revenue and new jobs or attract new businesses,” the Tax Foundation said in an October report. “While attending a sporting event or a concert in a new, publicly subsidized venue might benefit fans of the team or those who attend the event, those subsidies shift spending that would have occurred in other parts of the city or state in the absence of a new sports stadium or arena.”

Meanwhile, by developing intellectual capital, public education provides multifaceted benefits to the economy, experts say.

“Research shows that individuals who graduate and have access to quality education throughout primary and secondary school are more likely to find gainful employment, have stable families, and be active and productive citizens,” Dana Mitra of Pennsylvania State University said in a research report. “They are also less likely to commit serious crimes, less likely to place high demands on the public health care system, and less likely to be enrolled in welfare assistance programs.”

However that may be, the Ohio House budget would slash funding for public education far below what’s called for under a 2021 plan to make it sufficient to meet the requirements of the Ohio Constitution.

The Fair School Funding Plan calls for $666 million in new spending on public education. The Republican House budget would provide only $226 million.