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Education is generally seen as a path to success and people in poverty are less likely to attain an adequate level. In Travis County, 35,075 people over the age of 25 completed less than a 9th-grade education, and an additional 40,799 went to high school but didn't earn a diploma.
Of all adults over age 25 in Travis County, 14% do not have their high school diploma.
One in three Central Texas ninth graders is not enrolled in the twelfth grade three years later.
The #1 factor in the success of a school child is the educational level of the parent(s).
Leading economists estimate that every $1 invested in quality preschool programs can save society as much as $17 in remedial education, welfare costs, and court and prison expenses.
15.2 percent of Travis County residents live below the federal poverty level.
Over half of the families in Travis County with children ages 3 to 5 need full-time child care.
32 percent of Travis County child care centers serving children ages 0 to 5 are rated 1 to 4 stars by the Texas Rising Star system for quality.
Only 43.8 percent of income eligible 3 to 4 year olds are enrolled in Head Start or public pre-kindergarten programs.
Austin/Travis County spend $26.02 per child 5 and under on funding for child development programs; for fiscal year 2006-2007, this investment in child development social service contracts totaled more than $1.8 million.
Higher quality early education programs have well-trained teachers. In Travis County, 63 percent of child care directors, 60 percent of teachers and 71 percent of assistants do not have college-level training in early childhood education or child development.
Texas requires only eight hours of specialized training for child care workers; hairdressers are required to have 1,500 hours of specialized training.
Texas has the fastest growing child population in the United States and the second largest child population overall.
One of every 12 children in the United States lives in Texas.
The average cost of center-based child care for a four-year-old in an urban area in Texas in 2000 was $4,160. The average cost of public college tuition in Texas in 2000 was $2,644.