Tuesday at Loving Hands Pre-school in Green, Ohio, Summit County Sheriff Drew Alexander and his K-9 team interacted with the youngsters to promote the Early Learning Challenge Fund.

It's a government program that provides high quality education to at-risk pre-schoolers.  The children range in age from birth to five years old.

The price tag for the early learning initiative: $1 billion a year.

"It's much more expensive to put a person in prison. I can send my daughter to Ohio State University cheaper than what we pay to keep a prisoner," said Sheriff Alexander.

Studies show 80 percent of prisoners don't have a high school education.

The cost to house Ohio's 76,000 adult inmates is $1.7 billion every year.

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