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Franklin County panel outlines costly, phased plan for universal preschool and expanded childcare supports
Summary
Franklin County presenters told the Columbus City Council committee that delivering affordable, high-quality early learning at scale will require phased investment, partnerships and prototype pilots; county modeling showed multi‑hundred‑million and billion-dollar scenarios and a smaller $54 million prototype for three ZIP codes.
Scarlett, an early childhood consultant working with Franklin County, told the Columbus City Council committee that building a comprehensive early learning system will require phased, data-driven work and large new revenues. "It is early learning education," Scarlett said, stressing that the sector extends beyond childcare to health, family supports and workforce development.
The presentation summarized national evidence — notably the Perry Preschool and Abecedarian studies and the “Heckman” return‑on‑investment framework — that early, high‑quality interventions produce long‑term gains in education, health and labor‑market outcomes. Scarlett said those landmark studies inform local design and measurement choices.
Why it matters: Committee members were warned the price tag for countywide, universal programs is large. Scarlett said a full countywide universal scenario produced an illustrative annual cost of $1,812,000,000 in the firm’s modeling, and the group created smaller phased scenarios to test affordability and scale. A targeted prototype limited to three high‑need…
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