A big push, coming from outside of the Albion state prison Tuesday, for early childhood education.

A recent survey of nearly 500 inmates showed many of them had dropped out, or had some other sort of difficulty in school.

So lawmakers and law enforcement gathered outside of the Albion prison, to show their support for Governor Tom Wolf's proposed 40 Million in state funding to go towards early childhood education, “Kids who fall behind are more likely to drop out and these early intervention programs... things like Pre-K, getting things to read at grade level, make them more likely to stay in school, kids who stay in school don't come to us,” said Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary John Wetzel.

Bruce Clash, State Director of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, says the 40 Million in funding would provide 4,400 additional children in PA with high quality Pre-K education. In turn, he says it would boost high school graduation rates, reduce the number of people incarcerated in PA, and lead to millions in cost savings, “That would yield 150 Million in societal benefits over the lifetime to these children in higher future wages, less prison costs, less special education, and other costs, so we clearly get a huge return by investing early, we just have to find the political will and resources up front,” said Clash.

Senator Dan Laughlin, a republican, supports the investment. He suggests redirecting the 100 Million government spends on liquor advertising, to Pre-K education, “If you don't educate these children, you're going to spend money the rest of your life taking care of them, so why no spend it now? Spend it when they're young, it's an investment in their future, not only is it the right thing to do, it's the fiscally responsible thing to do,” said Laughlin. “I would rather spend the money that we spend in this state advertising liquor… on kids, it's a no-brainer for me,” Senator Laughlin continued.

Click the link to learn more about the initiative Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, or read up on the study about Pre-K education in PA.