Susan E. Manheimer is the San Mateo Chief of Police.

The beginning of summer is an exciting time for many youth who are eager to finish up the school year and dive into extracurricular activities. For those who are graduating, this time of year means the end of an era and the beginning of a new journey. Unfortunately, one out of five California students does not actually make it to graduation day because they fall behind early, eventually giving up on school and dropping out.

Kids who drop out of school often drop into a life of crime, causing a public safety risk to the community and further damaging the state's economy. As a police chief with 25 years of experience in law enforcement, I am deeply concerned about the dropout crisis and its impact on our city. I also know there are effective ways to prevent kids from dropping out, if we are willing to make the necessary investments.

Research shows that children who get a high-quality preschool experience are 44 percent more likely to graduate from high school than kids who do not attend preschool. Early childhood education prepares children for academic success in later grades, helps develop their social skills and often instills a love of learning, which keeps them engaged in school and feeling confident about their abilities.

Not only can high-quality preschool help bridge the achievement gap among students, studies show it also has an impact on crime. A study of the Child-Parent Center in Chicago shows that by age 18, at-risk children who had not been enrolled in high-quality preschool were 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime than similar children who had attended the program.

Naturally, preventing crime results in a significant cost-savings for local and state government. Investing in early childhood education makes a lot of sense when you consider that high-quality programs serving disadvantaged children have been shown to provide a return of $7 to $16 for every dollar spent. Such programs help cut costs on crime, welfare and remedial education, and increase tax revenues as a result of higher lifetime earnings.

Unfortunately, California's early childhood education system is underfunded and unable to serve many of the kids who need it most, according to the RAND Corporation's California Preschool Study. Statewide only about half of low-income children are in preschool, compared to 80 percent of children whose families earn more than $100,000.

As of September 2007, San Mateo County had more than 500 3- and 4-year olds on waiting lists for subsidized preschool and child care.

Yet, if we are to build safer communities and strengthen our economy, early childhood education must be part of the equation. Especially in this dismal fiscal climate, we should continue to look for effective long-terms solutions that give all young kids a fighting chance so that they, too, can one day earn a high school diploma and become productive members of society.