According to neurologists, fully 85 percent of human brain growth is completed during the first three years of life. It’s a recognition that’s driving a new King County initiative, Best Starts for Kids, which aims to ensure all children are given opportunities to fulfill their cognitive potential, starting at birth. To this end, the county council has voted to place a $350 million property-tax levy on the November 3, 2015, ballot to launch and support the initiative for six years.
Despite the price tag, County Executive Dow Constantine argues the levy represents a net economic win for the county. At a panel discussion at Northeastern University-Seattle last week, Constantine said that King County spends almost three-quarters of its general fund on the criminal justice system. Research has shown that the downstream costs of adult crime, not to mention the public cost of treating mental illness and addiction, can be greatly reduced by focusing on early childhood development. Such investments are also “a moral imperative” in view of inequalities in educational, social, and financial opportunity available to families today, he added.
[For more of this story, written by Judy Lightfoot, go to http://crosscut.com/2015/08/co...kids-levy-explained/]
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