As retired generals, we have some news that may surprise you: our nation's future military depends on getting more New York state children into quality preschool programs today.
Research shows the skills children develop as a result of quality preschool experiences are essential for long-term academic and life success. That success is crucial to our military. The U.S. Department of Defense estimates 75 percent of young adults between 17 and 24 cannot qualify for the armed services, many because they were economically and educationally disadvantaged.
Fortunately, a proposed state-federal partnership gives us a historic opportunity to put more children on track for academic success. The Strong Start for America's Children Act will provide states with resources to create, strengthen and expand quality preschool programs, and could lead to $8.1 billion in economic benefits for our state.
The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Reps. George Miller, D-Calif., and Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., puts states in the driver's seat in designing and implementing preschool programs. Our state could use the funding to provide more training for assistant teachers and monitoring to ensure program quality. It could expand access to many more children than the 44 percent of 4-year-olds who now participate. And it will ensure more children start school with a foundation for success, addressing the fact that, right now, 23 percent of New York's students fail to graduate from high school on time.
The proposal is especially important to national security because it will decrease the number of students who drop out by ensuring more children are prepared to do well in their critical early years. Studies of state preschool programs in Michigan, Arkansas, West Virginia, New Mexico and Pennsylvania have shown that participating children achieved a range of benefits, including reductions in the numbers held back in school or needing special education services.
This last point is especially important to New York taxpayers because every extra year of school costs an average of more than $21,000; in some districts, special education spending tops $40,000 a year per pupil.
What is also important is that the academic benefits of quality preschool can extend well into elementary school. By the time they were in third grade, for example, children who participated in New Jersey's high-quality program for two years were three-quarters of an academic year ahead in literacy compared to those who did not. Those in Boston's program gained the equivalent of seven months of additional learning. Similar results have been achieved in North Carolina, and in a San Francisco Bay Area program that led disadvantaged children to become better readers than wealthier peers.
For these reasons and more, we are among the hundreds of retired admirals and generals who are encouraging Congress to make this proposal a reality. We believe we have a strong ally in Rep. Chris Gibson, a retired Army colonel who has been a tireless proponent of early education programs. His support is important for our state as a whole because an independent analysis of more than 20 quality early learning programs shows they cut crime, welfare and other societal costs so much that they produce average net benefits to society of $15,000 for every child served.
We also see this proposal as an example of the common ground we need in a nation that too often seems hopelessly divided. During 2013 alone, Republican and Democratic governors in New York and 24 other states have proposed or signed into law significant expansions of state preschool programs. That is a true testament to the power of preschool for giving every child a fair shot at success in school, higher education and careers, including the military for those who choose to serve.
Michael S. Hall, of Ithaca, is a retired U.S. Air Force major general; Debra A. Scullary, of Albany, is a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general.