PLY: Big league political name in the US, Senator Orrin Hatch writes about PFS/SIB structures (hooray!). News from Australia too. Meanwhile I’m in London for a few days…
Utah’s Pay for Success Is A Model Ready For Federal Funding
Orrin Hatch & Kem Gardner – Salt Lake Tribune
As a pioneer in Pay-for-Success approaches to policy challenges, Utah has engineered innovative programs to save taxpayer money and facilitate public-private partnerships. Following the principles of results-based financing, our state has even developed the world’s very first Pay-for-Success initiative to fund early childhood education. This initiative — known as the Utah High Quality Preschool Program — gives children the foundation needed to excel academically.
Providing high-quality preschool education is a proven strategy to ensure children start school ready to learn. As children begin their education better prepared to succeed, they are more likely to achieve higher test scores and less likely to need special education as they progress through school. With fewer students requiring remedial services, both schools and taxpayers will save money. By using the Pay-for-Success model to fund early childhood education, we are not only improving academic outcome; we are investing in our economy by preparing the students of today for the workforce of tomorrow.
SIBs Bring Families Together While Rewarding Investors (subscription)
Greg Bearup – The Australian
Newpin is aimed at reuniting parents with their children. It was developed in the UK, and UnitingCare had been running it in Australia since the late 1990s. They knew it worked. But it was labour-intensive, expensive, not funded by the NSW government and in danger of being closed down. UnitingCare knew that if they could reunite families, not only was it a great outcome for them; it could also potentially save the state millions in future welfare costs. They just needed the state government to fund the program now, rather than pay the huge welfare bill later. The solution lay in a clever financial instrument known as a social impact bond, or social benefit bond.