They’ve done it again. The legislature provided funding for prisons in this special session. About $6.3 million was funded this time to open 600 prison beds. That’s about $10,500 a bed-far more than we pay per student for K-12 or pre-K education. During the fiscal session in February this year lawmakers provided the Departments of Corrections and Community Corrections with just short of $10 million above their budget.

Do we as a state feel better that we can now lock up more and more of our citizens? Why don’t we try education instead? More specifically, what about early childhood education? Why don’t we provide our youngest students a level playing field as they enter kindergarten to improve their odds of success in school and give them a better shot at productive careers? Education is cheaper than incarceration.

While we’re adding to our prison roles as fast as we can at any expense, we have neglected pre-K programs. Pre-K funding has not increased one dime since 2008. Private pre-K providers are beginning to close because they can’t keep up with cost of living increases. Public schools have received increases of nearly 14 percent in that time. It would take almost $15 million to restore a similar 14 percent inflation adjustment to our pre-K programs. However, that’s still less than what we have spent on prisons this year.

The research is clear. Students who have access to pre-K are less likely to end up dropping out of high school and winding up in prison. A large group of longitudinal studies have confirmed this-Perry Preschool Study, Abecedarian Study, and the Chicago Child Parent Centers Study to name a few. Though not as long term yet, the Arkansas Better Chance program has had two recent evaluations that confirm its quality.

Why don’t we try some vision instead of always reacting in crisis mode? Yes, we must have public safety but let’s try to reduce the problems that lead to the need for prison beds. Let’s fund pre-K in 2015. Let’s fund it with at least as much money as we dumped into prisons in 2014.