Raise Your Hand Texas®

Why Pre-K is Critical to

the Future of Texas

Businesses

@David_DAnthony / @RYHTexas

Pre-K Impact on Business

Supporting pre-k is about pragmatism,

not altruism

Pre-K Impact on Business

Change is happening.

• 81.9% increase in low-income students over 20 years

• 60% of Texas students are economically disadvantaged

• ESL numbers have gone from 11% to 17%

Pre-K Impact on Business

“the Texas labor force as a whole will be less well-educated, work in lower-status occupations, and have lower incomes in 2050 than

2010.”

Texas “will be poorer, with less income, higher poverty rates, lower net worth, and fewer assets and will have housing that is of lower

value.”

- Steve Murdock, Rice demographer

Pre-K Impact on Business

How U.S. & Texas stack up

PISAU.S. in the middle of the pack for reading, math, science

HanushekTexas ranks 28th globally in math and 24th in reading

National Education AssociationTexas ranks 46th in per-pupil education funding (2014)

Incremental progress is not good enough.

Pre-K Impact on Business

Dropout costs, and opportunities

Bush School of Government and Public Service study

• Cost of dropouts: $9.6 billion

• Reduction of dropouts = $1.1 billion in savings + other long-

term economic gains

Pre-K Impact on Business

What if one investment could reduce the

achievement gap by 50% and change the

trajectory of education and business in

Texas?

High-quality, full-day pre-k is that tool.

Pre-K Impact on Business

High-quality pre-k supports …

• Better health• Higher student achievement • Good life decisions• Skilled workforce

And decreases …

• Special education needs• Child abuse and neglect• Substance abuse• Arrests• Teen pregnancy• Violent crime

Pre-K Impact on Business

Pre-K legislation a first step toward quality

Thank You!

Questions?