Dramatic Government Spending Increases are Never Enough

The Patriot News has an AP story by Marc Levy, highlighting recipients of taxpayer funding that want more taxpayer funding.  It seems these groups are living in another world.  For instance take this quote about state social service funding:

"It seems like in good times there's never enough money and in bad times they're the first ones to get kicked out."

Yet under Gov. Rendell - mostly "good times" - Pennsylvania Public Welfare spending increased 62.6%, even using the numbers from the supposedly draconian PA Senate budget. I doubt many taxpayers have seen their incomes jump 63% (that would represent an increase from $50,000 to $81,500) since 2002.  And if they did get that kind of raise, I doubt they would complaining about that increase.

Furthermore, these advocates maintain the mentality that if government doesn't fund it, it won't occur.  They imply that the only way to show that we "care" is to take money from others through taxes and fund programs that do the best job of lobbying. 

One of the programs they talk about is preschool. Not only do they tout academic gains that will likely disappear in a few years, but they ignore the sizable private preschool market, which will be crowded out by government programs.

The Undelivered Promises of Government Preschool

The Sunbury Daily Item features a recent guest editorial claiming that taxpayer funded preschool, such as Gov. Rendell's PreK Counts, will have long-term savings by reducing crime and improving academic performance. The author claims a couple of studies back this conclusion.

What he fails to mention is that these studies were of decades-old, small, experimental programs, which served a handful of students with severe mental retardation and disadvantaged students, and provided not only preschool, but years of intervention. These programs offer little insight into state-funded "universal" or large scale preschool programs.

However, there have been studies of similar programs that are applicable. Millions of students have been served by Federal Head Start, yet all results point to the conclusion that academic gains fade after a few years. Some states have implemented universal preschool--Oklahoma was the first to do so, but has not only seen no improvement in academic performance, has actually declined relative to the rest of the country.

Large scale government-run preschool is problematic. It is a costly program, which has little or no benefit. It crowds out private options, taking choices away from parents. And it gives a public school system which is not adequately serving students from 1st grade through high school more responsibility, rather than reforming that system.

Bonus Fact Check: Government Preschool

One point that has been raised during the Rendell administration's taxpayer funding lobbying campaign for higher taxes was the benefits of the Pre-K Counts programs.

On this, we have no quibble with the facts being presented - that is, student enrolled in preschool perform well in Kindergarten, and even in 1st Grade. 

Of course, Rendell's cheerleading team doesn't note that positive effects of preschool fade over time, generally disappearing after 3rd grade.  Preschool fails to offer long-term academic benefits, and states with universal preschool haven't improved academically.

Nor do they note that preschool has historically been provided privately, and instead of supporting additional choices for parents, state programs tend to crowd out private providers.

Will Government-Run Preschool Help Fight Al-Qaeda?

The Patriot News has a blurb about former generals saying that government-run preschool will help improve the military, and that if the Pennsylvania Senate budget passes, the terrorists will win. The former general quoted also happens to be a current school superintendent - which would be like me saying, "As a former child, I think that to help the children, you should give money to the Commonwealth Foundation."

The idea behind this absurd rhetoric is, "The lack of a high school diploma and a criminal record are among the reasons why 75 percent of men and women age 17 to 24 are unfit to serve in the military" and government-run preschool would improve graduation rates and reduce crime.

But, while we might agree with the problems, government preschool does not improve graduation or crime rates, or even test scores or school attendance beyond 3rd grade. As we wrote in a 2007 policy brief, the effects of preschool programs are overstated and are nonexistent after a few years. Subsequent research further supports that conclusion.

Does Universal Preschool Improve Learning?

The Heritage Foundation has a new backgrounder asking, "Does Universal Preschool Improve Learning?"  

The short answer is NO.  For the long answer, they examine universal preschool programs in Oklahoma and Georgia, finding substantial costs, but virtually no long-term academic benefits.  Click here for the PDF version.

Bailouts and Bull

John Stossel's latest 20/20 special on bailouts and bull debunks numerous big-government myths, including the bailout mentality.  Stosell also tackles toll road privatization, universal Pre-K, medical marijuana, the border fence, and other issues.  It is good television.




Stossel also talked with Reason TV on defending the market from within the liberal media click here for a transcript of that interview or go here for video/podcast.

Protect Our Kids from Preschool

Shikha Dalmia and Lisa Snell have a an editorial in the Wall Street Journal about the merits of universal preschool:

In the last half-century, U.S. preschool attendance has gone up to nearly 70% from 16%. But fourth-grade reading, science, and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) -- the nation's report card -- have remained virtually stagnant since the early 1970s.


Preschool activists at the Pew Charitable Trust and Pre-K Now -- two major organizations pushing universal preschool -- refuse to take this evidence seriously. The private preschool market, they insist, is just glorified day care. Not so with quality, government-funded preschools with credentialed teachers and standardized curriculum. But the results from Oklahoma and Georgia -- both of which implemented universal preschool a decade or more ago -- paint an equally dismal picture.


A 2006 analysis by Education Week found that Oklahoma and Georgia were among the 10 states that had made the least progress on NAEP. Oklahoma, in fact, lost ground after it embraced universal preschool: In 1992 its fourth and eighth graders tested one point above the national average in math. Now they are several points below. Ditto for reading. Georgia's universal preschool program has made virtually no difference to its fourth-grade reading scores. And a study of Tennessee's preschool program released just this week by the nonpartisan Strategic Research Group found no statistical difference in the performance of preschool versus nonpreschool kids on any subject after the first grade.

Preschool Study: No Evidence of Lasting Benefits

Adam Schaeffer writes on Cato-at-liberty that a recent study of universal preschool only shows what critics of government-run day care have been saying: that they offer only short-term gains.

Oklahoma’s achievement scores on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, AKA “the nation’s report-card”) suggest that the state’s universal preschool program is at best ineffective and at worst harmful to student achievement.


Oklahoma, “where state-funded pre-kindergarten has been in place for 18 years — and offered universally for nearly a decade,” has slipped below the national average on math and reading scores for both the 4th and 8th grades since it began expanding government pre-K in the 1990’s.

State pre-K program "getting results"?

The PA Department of Education issued a statement, patting themselves on the back, claiming that the "Pre-K Counts" program was working as intended. They cite an increase in "age appropriate" skills and behaviors (under the categories social/emotional skills, early language and literacy, and of behaviors to meet needs) among participants.

You may remember that we were critics of the program when it was proposed. Assuming those measure are meaningful and reliable, are we going to eat crow? Not so fast:

The advocates of Pre-K Counts and universal preschool don't claim that it merely improves readiness for kindergarten, but that it will improve high school graduation rates, reduce special education costs, reduce teen pregnancy, result in higher employment, reduce welfare dependancy, reduce crime rates, and so forth.

Evidence of this: none yet

Meanwhile, we stated that preschool programs produced modest academic gains in the first few years - but these gains faded over time.

Evidence of this: right so far

It should also be noted that government-run preschool crowds out private providers, at a high cost to taxpayers.

Empowering Families

Ken Blackwell commentary on the mistakes states are making by continuing to push for taxpayer-funded state-run preschool - to the detriment of educational choice and parental control.

Preschool for All!

National Review article (from Free Library) on the push for government-run "universal preschool":

The irony is that early education is already an American strength. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that vast majorities of children enter kindergarten ready to learn: They recognize numbers, they can count to ten, and although most of them aren't literate they grasp a few fundamentals about letters and reading. During the 1990s, even as Americans became less likely to read books, parents actually increased the rate at which they read books to preschoolers.

Perhaps this is one reason that young children perform well when compared with kids in other countries. On recent standardized language tests, fourth graders finished north of the 70th percentile, topping their peers in 26 of 35 countries. They also scored above average in math and science. "There's room for improvement, but this system certainly isn't broken," says Lisa Snell of the Reason Foundation. "It's basically working just fine." Problems set in as these children leave elementary schools and enter middle school. By the time they're in the eighth grade, their achievement is at best average. In the twelfth grade, it's mediocre.

This hardly makes the case for a government takeover of early education. If anything, it's an argument for reform of the upper grades--and probably in the direction of market-based alternatives that weaken government's near monopoly on K-12 schools. Anything else is a misbegotten priority.

The Myth of Pre-K

Adam Schaeffer of the Cato Institute tackles the mythical benefits of universal pre-K:

In truth, pre-K costs billions of dollars but returns little benefit. Supporters base their claims on reports that have been proven wrong; they make wild and ungrounded assumptions, elementary mistakes in calculations, and conflate the effects of preschool with other major interventions in the participants’ families that some programs have made.

When we look at actual universal pre-K programs in action in Quebec, Georgia, and Oklahoma, we see that pre-K costs far outweigh the benefits. Indeed, in Quebec researchers found that the program has had a negative effect on some students. And even the good effects fade out as the students move through grade school.

The government school lobby is trying to change the subject and grab some more money on top of the half a trillion dollars it already commands. Pre-K is no substitute for fixing our K-12 education system.

Clinton's Hostile Preschool Takeover

Darcy Olsen of The Goldwater Institute on Hillary Clinton's Pre-K plan.

This is in response to a question for Brett Lieberman, but others are free to read up on the issue.

'Pre-K Counts' Does Not Apply To Religious Schools

The Evening Bulletin on the effect of "Pre-K Counts" on private, religious preschools.

Budget Line Items Revealed

The budget deal was reported from conference committee tonight (the deal had already been worked out behind the scenes, the conference committee just reported what was handed to them).

Among the details and answers to our questions:

The total budget is $27.477 Billion, (previously reported at $27.494); this includes $315 million for mass transit, which is being put into a separate fund, but still being taken from the same funding source (the sales tax). For no logical reason, the Governor and several lawmakers have acted as though this money were being cut from the budget. It is not, and must be included in the spending increase, which is a 5.2% increase.

The Governor’s $75 million for Pre-K Counts does in fact get a separate line item; allowing for an unfunded mandate, a ballooning cost in future years, and undermining private options and choice in preschool education.

The WAMs (Walking Around Money) are back in the budget (see below). Ordinarily, in a “compromise” you would expect to split the difference—that is, take the Governor’s proposal with $110 in WAMs and the $20 million from the Senate budget and come up with a number somewhere in the middle. Instead, it looks like they took the two, added them together, and multiplied by two—and came up with $252 million in WAMs.

Why the Teachers' Unions are backing Univeral Preschool

Seeking to Expand Ranks and Increase Salaries, Not Improve Education - from Human Events online

Lame Duck, or Big Winner?

Tony Phyrillas celebrates Rendell's losses in the budget deal - too bad that doesn't do taxpayers any good.

• Phyrillas likes the "no new taxes" - but new taxes became irrelevant once we realized there was a $650 million surplus; a surplus which should have been returned to taxpayers through tax cuts, but was not.
  
  
• Phyrillas states "Senate Republicans promised to hold the line on spending at the rate of inflation, and almost kept that promise" - not even close. The Taxpayer Protection Act that 30 Senators endorsed (and Senate leaders "promised to hold the line" at) would limit spending to a 3.15% increase, or an $823 million increase. Instead, the agreement will increase spending by 5.3% (Tony's numbers are wrong), or 4.4% even if you include the "end-of-the-year" supplementals as part of last year's budget. Thus, this budget exceeds the TPA by $558 million. When they said "hold the line", I thought they mean the other side of the line.
  
  
• Furthermore, the budget exceeds Gov. Rendell's proposal by $220 million - meaning that had they passed the Governor's proposal as it was (granted, an unrealistic expectation), they would have spent less; not been held hostage on transit, energy, health care, smoking bans, new debt, etc; and there would have been no furlough.



• And Tony also enjoys that the Governor didn't get his peripheral items (energy bonds for corporate welfare, Cover All Pennsylvanians, and Jonas Salk bonds) - but those issues have merely been put off until later. While Rendell is acting like a kid demanding every toy in the toy store, the Senate GOP is enabling him by, instead of telling him NO!, giving some for his birthday and more for Christmas.
  



• Phyrillas ignores what the Governor did win - including (reportedly) a promise to crease his "Pre-K Counts" program, which will institutionalize government control of preschool, run private providers out of business, and reduce choices for families. This will essentially expand the struggling public school monopoly to younger children, and will become another unfunded mandate, potentially costing billions.



• Probably the worst part of the budget deal is the Transportation plan - which Tony inexplicably praises because it is " a far cry from the billions Rendell wanted for mass transit by leasing the Turnpike". Tony, under a Turnpike Lease the taxpayers pay $0 - tolls could potentially go up, but would be limited by the lease agreement. Under this plan, taxpayers will get soaked by a 25% increase in tolls on the Turnpike in 2 years, new tolls on I-80 (though that part is probably illegal under federal law), and have to pay of $5 billion in bonds (with interest) and fees for bond lawyers. How is less money, higher costs better than more money, less costs?

Budget Questions

Lingering questions/issues about the budget negotiations (with links to Commonwealth Foundation information on these issues):

• What will be the final percent increase in the General Fund? The Taxpayer Protection Act—which has 30 cosponsors in the Senate—would limit spending to 3.2% this year, an increase of $822 million (to $26.9 billion).
• Will the discretionary funds (WAMs), which were excluded when the Senate passed the budget, be put back in? These funds are used by legislators and the Governor to hand out to politically connected organizations.
• Will the Governor’s “Pre-K Counts,” a program which encourages state government takeover of preschool be but back into the budget?
• Will a budget deal include $850 million in debt to hand out to politically connected alternative energy companies?
• Will a budget deal include increasing debt for Redevelopment Capital Assistance to fund projects that make politicians look good, but that taxpayers will pay off, with interest, for decades?
• Will the budget include funding of the Pittsburgh Penguins arena, the Philadelphia Convention Center, and $1 billion in other projects tied to an estimated ten years worth of gambling revenue?
• Will a budget deal include passing a transportation funding bill that includes $5 billion in new debt, dramatic hikes in Turnpike Tolls, and tolls on I-80 (which are likely illegal under federal law)?
  

Gov: "Spend it All!"

Central Penn Business Journal on Governor Rendell's press conference:.

Rendell said he is particularly disturbed by comments Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Gibson Armstrong (R-Lancaster and York counties) made yesterday in regards to state funding for pre-kindergarten programs.

“I was stunned. How can any decent and honorable man say there is not enough money for pre-kindergarten funding when there is a $600 million-plus surplus,” Rendell said.

“Of course we have the money. Politics and posturing shouldn’t be the thing driving this train"

How can any "decent and honorable man" forget that it is the people's money, and that the surplus should go back to the people who overpaid, not spent on politicians' whims?

Speaking of "posturing", check out how the Governor and others have exaggerated the benefits of government-run preschool to get more funding to expand the K-12 monopoly, and reduce parental choice.

And before "good and honorable" people start thinking "we have the money", you'd better look into how much the Governor's plans will really cost, one they are fully implemented - upwards of $3 b-b-b-billion.

Rendell, GOP clash over kindergarten cash

Philadelphia Inquirer on the debate over state funded and controlled Preschool.

Read our Policy Brief on the inflated benefits of universal preschool.