How California's Workforce Can Prosper

California’s preschools are essential for future workforce development, to avoid a serious skills gap. High­-quality pre-K can deliver very strong results, improving children’s math and literacy skills well into elementary school and increasing high school graduation rates. ReadyNation’s California business leaders are calling on state policymakers to continue to improve pre-K quality and expand access to more children. This is a solid investment in California’s future.

In order for California’s workforce to prosper, the state needs to invest in childhood education, a skilled teaching workforce, research­-based programs, high standards, best practices, and continuous quality improvement. Such investments in quality pre­-K can yield strong short­ and long­term results. In the short term, on average, for every $1 invested in early care and education, an additional $1 is generated into the overall economy, for a total of $2 in new spending.

There are also longer­-term gains: a well­-respected, independent cost-benefit analysis of more than 20 different studies of high­-quality state and local preschool programs showed that they can have, on average, a net return of more than $26,000 in current dollars for every child served. Given these benefits, extending access to PreK to 31,500 four­-year-­olds through the 2014­15 Budget Act would save California close to $820 million per year.