Art Rolnick, senior fellow in the Humphrey School for Public Affairs, and Arthur J. Reynolds, professor in the Institute of Childhood Development in the College of Education and Human Development, were recently quoted in a Pioneer Press editorial on the debate over universal pre-k.
“The high return to the public is in investing in our most at-risk children,” Rolnick told the Pioneer Press. Citing a study he conducted earlier in his career he said, “We got an 18 percent inflation-adjusted return when investing in our most at-risk kids.”
According to the Pioneer Press, Reynolds says there’s a lot to consider. “We need to have really the best of both the universal and the targeted if we want to reach the goal of all children school-ready by 2020,” he said. “A universal system that then is tailored to the individual needs of families is really the only way that’s going to get all kids school-ready.”
