Four-year-old kindergarten could be on the agenda next session

Rep. Debi Towns (R-Janesville) has a parting gift for her party they probably won't like. She is finishing up her report on four-year-old kindergarten before she leaves office next month. And here's the thing that will rub her party the wrong way - she likes it. Debi Towns has spent months researching this topic and came away convinced that it is good for the children of Wisconsin.

So will the report see the light of day in her caucus? Chances are Towns' leaders created a task force on this issue to find a reason to end the program. In the past the Assembly Republicans have proposed eliminating four-year-old kindergarten. That idea went over like a lead balloon.

It's not hard to understand why either. Communities that have four-year-old education don't want to give it up. Educators like the results that it brings. Parents have seen how much good it does for their children.

In fact, if the rest of Towns' caucus would take a serious look at the program the way Towns did, they'd come away believers too. There have been many studies that show the benefits of early education. The child benefits and the taxpayers benefit too. It really is a win-win situation.

A report done to show how our state would benefit from expanding our four-year-old kindergarten program found individual benefits include:

enhanced academic attainment;
improved health;
higher probability of graduating from high school
and/or going to college;
higher wages; and
lower probability of involvement in criminal activities

and societal benefits include:

higher tax payments by participants;
lower reliance on welfare; and
lower rates of criminal activity.

All of those translate into lower taxes for our state down the road.

Let's hope that the Towns report will spark a commitment from her Republican colleagues to expand this program.