MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Thousands of Minnesota children enter kindergarten unprepared every year, and that's costing Minnesota's education system about $113 million a year, a new study found.

The Wilder Research report, commissioned by the Bush Foundation, found that unprepared kindergartners cost schools because they lose per-student revenue when students drop out.

"They start behind and they don't catch up," Robert Chase of Wilder Research told the Star Tribune.

Schools are also forced to spend for safety and special education programs for unprepared students, and also lose money due to increased teacher absenteeism, grade repetition costs and language programs for students who enter kindergarten unable to speak English.

But the study released Monday also found that a quality two-year program for at-risk 3-year-olds would cost schools about $377 million a year - more than three times the $113 million that would be saved.

That's led some officials to recommend that more than schools should be responsible for early-childhood programs.

"If the state is investing strategically, it would recognize that many parts of the state budget would benefit from investing in early childhood education," said Rob Grunewald, associate economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "The benefits tend to be spread out through many parts of our public budget."

Outside of benefits to the school system, early childhood education can benefit a community in many ways, Grunewald said.

He said government gets more income tax revenue when its citizens are better educated and make more money. Less money would have to be spent on the criminal justice system, as well as on health care and other social services.

In St. Paul, a $30 million pilot project by the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation aims to find the best and most cost-effective way to provide quality early childhood education to at-risk students.

The project mentors parents before the child is born, on such issues as the importance of brain stimulation, and it helps parents select early education programs for their child via scholarships.