Maine law enforcement leaders are proud to have two strong, independent leaders in Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

On March 17, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed budget resolutions that set the wrong priorities for America’s law enforcement and for children. When the budget came to the Senate floor, both Maine senators worked hard to make sure crucial investments that help children get the right start in life and reduce crime were preserved. While the budget still calls for steep cuts over five years, two crucial amendments, which the senators supported, restored the funding for critical education and health programs for children.

Both senators championed the amendment delaying cuts to education until 2007. The amendment restored funds for programs like Head Start and after-school programs that not only help children succeed in school but also are effective in preventing future crime. For example, quality child care and pre-kindergarten programs like Head Start are proven to help kids learn to get along with others, behave in class and start school ready to succeed. A study of the Perry Preschool program in Ypslianti, Mich., showed that excluding at-risk kids from a good pre-kindergarten program multiplied by five times the risk that they would grow up to be chronic lawbreakers by age 27. Research also shows they improve language and math skills, high school graduation rates, earnings and productivity.

No wonder the 62 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and crime victims who make up the anti-crime organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Maine have called for making sure all families have affordable access to good child care and pre-kindergarten programs.

However, Head Start currently is so underfunded it serves only six out of 10 eligible children. The Child Care and Development Block Grant can serve only one in seven children of the struggling working families who Congress determined can’t afford adequate child care without help.

Instead of expanding these investments to meet the need, the budget proposed five years of cuts in Head Start, child care and other education programs, making them available to a steadily smaller portion of the eligible population. Thanks in large part to Maine’s senators, the amendment provides investments that help keep kids from becoming criminals.

Maine’s senators also helped win a crucial amendment to preserve Medicaid health care for low-income children and families, including mental health services and screenings to identify children’s hearing, visual and other problems early. That amendment would also help protect foster care for abused and neglected children.

Now leaders in Congress are negotiating a “compromise” between the Senate budget and the House budget. We are counting on Sens. Snowe and Collins to continue to play a leadership role in protecting these cost-effective programs that keep kids safe and save taxpayers’ money.

Maine police officers and sheriffs’ deputies arrest more than 9,000 young people a year for juvenile crimes. It is simply not cost effective to cut these prevention programs and then pay substantially higher costs once kids reach the criminal justice system. How many more crimes will be committed because there will be fewer children in Maine benefiting from Head Start, fewer children getting decent child care while their parents work, and fewer children able to participate in after-school programs?

We believe in balancing budgets, but we don’t believe in saving a little money now and passing significant costs on to the future. Economists have concluded, for example, that the Perry Preschool program saved $17 for every dollar invested. Cutting investments that help kids get the right start actually wastes billions in tax dollars.

We appreciate the courage Sens. Snowe and Collins showed in supporting these investments and are grateful that both Maine senators understand the importance of spending money wisely on programs that will save tax dollars and innocent lives for years to come. If our two senators stand their ground against any cuts beyond the Senate budget, Maine law enforcement leaders and crime victims will stand shoulder to shoulder with them.

Don Winslow, a member of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, is the chief of police for Bangor.