by KYW's Dr. Marciene Mattleman

We’re number one—leading the world in prison incarcerations. If only we were number one in education. So begins a recent commentary piece in Education Week by Tom Carroll.

In Europe, the highest-scoring countries in academics have the lowest prison populations. Here, many public schools use law enforcement to deal with disruptive behavior.

But, greater numbers of states are beginning to rethink prison for low level offenders and finding strategies that are tough on crime and keeping kids out of jail. 

The average annual state expenditure for a prisoner is $23,876 in contrast to $8,701 on average for a K-12 student.

Study after study shows that investment in education improves school performance and graduation rates and can reduce incarceration and health care costs.

Research by the Alliance for Excellent Education estimates that if the 1.2 million students who drop out each year earned a high school diploma, states could save $17 billion in health care costs over the graduates’ lifetimes.

Solutions aren’t easy; but policymakers need to turn their attention to these facts.