To the editor:

A pro-growth bill for St. Louis County keeps treading water in Jefferson City. 

Democratic State Senator Tracy McCreery’s Senate Bill (SB) 233 could provide universal access to all-day pre-kindergarten across St. Louis County. The legislation would allow county voters to establish an early education district, or “EED,” for all four-year-olds.

Working households often face financial pressure to keep a child at home or with a lower-cost caregiver, while hoping the child does not enter kindergarten too far behind their peers in math, reading, and social-emotional development.

Local momentum has been built by The Coalition for the Formation of The Early Education District of St. Louis County, which worked closely with Senator McCreery on her original bill, 2024’s SB 1508.

EED would be funded by a maximum property tax rate of $0.52 on each $100 of a taxable property’s assessed valuation. Nobel laureate economist James Heckman found that public dollars spent on early childhood education yield a 7-10% annual return, thanks to increased earnings and reduced spending on healthcare, criminal justice, and remedial education. 

St. Louis County’s civic and business leaders should publicly support SB 233’s capacity to generate the societal and economic benefits our region will thrive upon.

Peter Gariepy

Richmond Heights

Editor’s note: Peter Gariepy is a member of the Ladue School Board.