Market-based scholarship programs like Minnesota’s Early Learning Scholarships (MELS) prove these returns are scalable. MELS provides vouchers to low-income parents, empowering them to choose high-quality programs. Result: an 18% inflation-adjusted public ROI—higher than the S&P 500’s historical average111210. The keys to replicating this success are:
- Targeting at-risk children: Returns exceed $17 per dollar in high-poverty neighborhoods7.
- Parent empowerment: Scholarships foster competition, driving program quality without bureaucracy12.
- Prenatal-to-age-5 focus: Early starts maximize neurodevelopmental benefits126.
Universal programs can work, but targeted investments in disadvantaged populations yield the highest fiscal returns—often paying for themselves810. - By reducing crime, early childhood programs save taxpayers money on law enforcement, incarceration, and victim costs. The Perry Preschool Project alone found that deterring criminal justice involvement saves $171,473 per child over 40 years3.
- Children in these programs have higher graduation rates and better employment outcomes, both of which are linked to lower crime rates59.
Market-driven, parent-centered models like MELS achieve unprecedented ROI
by combining choice, quality, and precise targeting.
All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children
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(They make THE RULES in the lives of abused children)
INVISIBLECHILDREN – KARA (KIDS AT RISK ACTION
“What we do to our children, they will do to our society”
(Pliny the Elder, 2000 years ago)
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