In a piece for the Concord Monitor, former State Representative and Concord City Councilor Liz Blanchard shared her disappointment for the House’s defeat of HB 1563, which would have funded full-day kindergarten programs:

This state law is not only unfair to children and families, it’s unfair to the school districts and charter schools that have done the right thing and gone to full-day kindergarten, like my school district, Merrimack Valley. Every time the state fails to live up to its responsibility, we know it comes right out of the hide of the property tax payer.

There is much research that shows investing in early childhood education pays off in the long run. In fact, I learned years ago when I was on the Child and Family Law Committee in the New Hampshire House that for every $1 invested in early childhood, we save $17 down the road.

An additional $1,800 per full-time kindergarten student per year is a small price to pay compared to $200 per day in the county jail years later.

You may think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. The research shows that the more early childhood educational opportunities, the more likely it is that a child will graduate from high school, go on to college and not engage in criminal activity.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Dan Feltes (Dist. 15) and Representatives David Luneau (Merr-10), Mel Myler (Merr-10), James Verschueren (Straf-13), and Mary Gile (Merr-27), was killed in the House by a vote of 205-152 in February.

Read the full article here.