A Republish Of Our Review Of The First Annual Smart Start Oklahoma Conference from 2011

 

 

A Review of the First Annual Smart Start Oklahoma Conference, "Champions for Change" - How Much More than the Already-Allotted Billions of Dollars Per Year Can "Champions" Justify Spending On Unproven Early Childhood Programming In Oklahoma?

 

 

Editorial Comments: Though this was nearly 7 years ago now (it was originally posted to our SCRIBD account), while writing about teaching funding for some new blogs, I referenced this piece. It seems unbelievable that Oklahoma continues to spend so much money on preK 'education' when accepted research shows that all kids are basically on the same page academically by 3rd grade whether they attend preK or not. I wanted to move this to our blog where we could reference it. The funding/authorization of the OSPR/Smart Start Board comes from federal law.

Without further ado, the article:

Social Impact Bonds to Fund Pre-School and the Price Tag of Unintended Consequences

 

 A recent Hechinger Report article covers a new concept for providing revenue streams to various public programs ostensibly without tax increases. Unfortunately, Social Impact Bonds as they are called, are yet another example of how well-meaning individuals and legislators believe they can micromanage all aspects of our lives to make life fair for everyone while soaking the American taxpayer.

Smart Start Oklahoma Conference Review, Commentary and Research

First Annual Smart Start Oklahoma Conference

“Champions for Change” or

How Much More Than The Already-Allotted One Billion Dollars Per Year Can “Champions” Justify Spending On Unproven Early Childhood Programming In Oklahoma?

(sorry, due to the copious pages of data from the Oklahoma Policy Institute that had to be scanned in, this document can only be viewed through our Scribd account.)