I was surprised to see this article in the normally conservative Twin Cities paper the Star Tribune the other day. The Minnesota Legislature is introducing an bill that plans to restructure how the state spends its $400 million early education funds. Impressively, the bill has bipartisan support and will likely pass.
The article does a good job stating the need for this money - in Minnesota, half of children are not ready for kindergarten at age 5, and like I mentioned in this post, preschool/head start programs generate a 16 to 1 return on investment over time. Just think about that! 16 to 1! As in every $1 that we invest eventually earns $16.
So how much of the state's budget is devoted to early education spending? Less than one percent. And this bill, though it does help increase quality child care programs and access to childcare for poor people, does not increase the amount of spending. In Kurt Vonnegut's words, So it goes...
PS. I am doing my taxes, and it looks like I'll be getting $300 as part of the extension of the "Bush Tax Cuts" / Bush Spending on Rich Motherfuckers and Corporations (BSRMC). Yeah, that's right, I just made that an acronym. So I should be happy I get this $300, right? Well, seeing as the BSRMC will cost $3.7 TRILLION over the next 10 years and there are 300 million people in the US, 3.7Trillion/300 million/10 years = $1,233. The way I see it, W. owes me about $900. I accept personal checks and/or cash. Oh, and the BSRMC did not stimulate the economy, either.
Lil wayne says it best:
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