Social issues are economic issues: Making wise investments in our future

SC Department of Juvenile Justice Director Eden Hendrick recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that our state is the only state in the nation that detains children in a juvenile detention center for running away, skipping school or being hard to manage.

As shocking as that may be, it comes as no surprise to children’s advocates. After all, our policymakers don’t have a very good track record when it comes to addressing our state’s toughest problems related to kids.

Director Hendrick pretty much summed it up when she said, “We are the outliers. We are the ones who do not follow the best practices, do not follow the research, do not follow what everyone else does and has proven to produce better outcomes for youth.”

She’s right. We don’t. Even though there are compelling social and economic benefits to investing in prevention.

Research tells us that students who see no hope for a prosperous future are much more likely to fall behind, act out, end up incarcerated in DJJ or the Department of Corrections, become addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, drop out of school or engage in other risk behaviors.

Many of these kids are living in poverty and don’t see a viable way out. These young people are our 21st century workforce. Yet rather than investing in their well-being now and helping them find a better way that will help them and our state grow and prosper, we spend exorbitant sums on the consequences instead of on proven effective programs.

Issues pertaining to children are not afforded the attention they deserve from policymakers, yet in reality these are economic issues of gargantuan proportion that negatively impact us all.

The need for state services would be decidedly reduced if we exercised foresight and invested in strategies that keep children healthy, help them develop vital interpersonal skills necessary for school, work and life success, ensure they succeed academically and then provide access to higher education and pathways to quality workforce opportunities.

The outcome: Healthy, educated, adults and a more prosperous state economy.

It would certainly behoove our cost-conscious, business-minded policymakers to pay attention to data from Kids Count, the state Department of Education’s school report cards, pupils in poverty and the Youth Risk Behaviors Survey that tells us our children aren’t doing very well. And then to pay attention to the voices of experts like Director Hendrick who know we have to invest in students before they fall behind and get in trouble.

If policymakers followed the data, they’d know that — according to the SC Department of Education — there are 484,651 K-12 students living in poverty, 68% of our students are not reading on grade level by the fourth grade and 78% are not on grade level in math by eighth grade. Those students are practically ensured to perpetuate the cycle of poverty.

This past school year, 101,407 students were sent to in-school suspension; 95,982 were in out-of-school suspension; 3,414 were referred to law enforcement and 1,600 were sent to DJJ, putting those kids at risk of falling behind and dropping out of school.

If we invest up front, we would all reap the benefits. Otherwise, we will continue to pay exponentially for the consequences of inaction.

When children don’t get what they need to help them succeed, our businesses, our schools, our taxpayers and our state ultimately suffer the consequences. And the costs escalate every year that we delay. We know what works. Why don’t we do what works?

After the Senate Judiciary hearing, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said there’s got to be a better way to address problems than locking children up. There is, Sen. Massey.

Help policymakers understand that supporting evidence-based prevention programs not only saves thousands of children’s lives, it is also a financial investment in the future economic well-being of our communities and our state.