The Mississippi Department of Education asked for $2.5 million to create 25 prekindergarten (pre-k) programs, to prepare children for kindergarten. Pre-k programs are incredibly expensive, costing about twice what we now spend per student in K-12. While some pre-k children start kindergarten stronger, the benefits fade by the third grade or earlier. Research shows no ending improvement from such state-sponsored preschool programs.

Oklahoma has the largest state-run pre-k program in the country. Reading scores for the 4th and 8th grades fell from above the national average to below the national average since the program’s inception.

One of the highest pre-school enrollment rates in the country is in Washington, D.C. Yet, the percentage of 4th graders reading at or above the proficient level is consistently the lowest in the nation.

Georgia was the earliest adopter of public pre-schools. Georgia’s kindergarten assessment program found that children placed in pre-k did no better in kindergarten than children who had not attended pre-k.

The most comprehensive study of the Head Start program found small initial gains on IQ and other cognitive measures, that disappeared by the 2nd grade compared to children not in Head Start.

In Tennessee, the nonpartisan Strategic Research Group found no statistical performance improvement between preschooled children and children who received no preschooling.

Everyone wants good schools. While it’s important for school children to start well, it’s more important for them to end well. In almost every study of early childhood programs, good long-term results are not found.

The Mississippi school system desperately needs improvement. Research shows that expensive pre-k programs are not the magic-bullet we need to improve our school system. It’s common sense to not waste taxpayer money on failed school programs.