Early Learning

When President Obama announced his groundbreaking early learning plan, he proposed to fund the expansion of preschool and voluntary home visiting with a tobacco tax increase. Today, with eight other organizations invested in young children and/or public health, we released a report that explains the twofold benefits of this plan. Here are just four of them:

1. In the first year of the program, nearly 335,000 children from low- and moderate-income families will gain access to high-quality preschool. By the 10th year of the program, two million children will have access to these opportunities. TWO MILLION – somebody will need to order a whole lot of those teeny tiny chairs for all these teeny tiny learners!

It’s been a roller coaster week, and it’s not over yet. Disappointing news from the Census Bureau that we didn’t make progress reducing poverty or the wage gap last year. Exciting news from the Department of Labor about a new rule that brings home care workers one giant step closer to fair pay. The threat that the House will vote later today to slash vital SNAP (Food Stamp) benefits for millions of Americans and vote tomorrow to extend the sequester for several more months. The sequester vote will include yet another effort to defund the Affordable Care Act.

But even in Congress, there are some encouraging developments. Yesterday, several Members of Congress turned out for a special game of Chutes and Ladders (with hula hoops!) to show their support for investing in early learning. And today, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and cosponsors Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mark Begich (D-AK) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act to close offshore tax loopholes. Read more »

The best part about working here at the NWLC is that every so often, I get to venture outside of the office and do something really fun and different with part of my day. Yesterday, instead of my usual commute, I headed down to the Capitol to play a life-size game of Chutes & Ladders with some really adorable children, truly inspirational members of Congress, and early education advocates.

As our own Helen Blank notes in her Huffington Post piece, the sequester has caused 57,000 children to lose out on access to Head Start, and many families lack high-quality early learning in their communities. Stories collected by the National Women’s Law Center and members of the Strong Start campaign that were distributed to Senators today make it clear that a positive early education experience benefits children and families throughout their lives.

This morning’s event gave us a chance to put some really adorable faces on the lives that laws involving early education touch.

All photos courtesy Jeffrey Martin.

Senator Mazie Hironi, and Representatives Rosa DeLauro and George Miller talk with Jack about the importance of early education.

 “If we don't make this investment [in education], we're going to put our kids, our workers and our country at a competitive disadvantage for decades. So we have to begin in the earliest years, and that's why I'm going to keep pushing to make high-quality preschool available for every four-year-old in America. Not just because we know it works for our kids, but because it provides a vital support system for working parents.”
—President Obama, July 24, 2013

President Obama, speaking to a crowd in Galesburg, Illinois highlighted the importance that high-quality early childhood care and education plays in ensuring that our youngest children are poised for upward mobility and success in life—and in building a strong economy that works for all Americans. The President made clear that early education is a key component of ensuring the country’s economic prosperity. He also emphasized that early education benefits both children and their parents.

Ensuring that children have affordable, high-quality early care and education means that parents are able to participate in the workforce, have the peace of mind they need to be productive at work, and provide for their families. When parents are able to work and contribute their talents, they also help make our economy as a whole more vibrant. Read more »

The Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies just approved a funding plan for those agencies in Fiscal Year 2014. The full Committee will consider the bill tomorrow.

During the Subcommittee’s consideration of the bill, Senators voiced their appreciation of the bipartisan effort and conversations leading up to the bill. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Chair of the Subcommittee, expressed her commitment to get the bill on the Senate floor saying “If we move this bill, America and the people who live in it will be in a better place.”  Senator Mikulski explained that the appropriations bill laid the groundwork for expanding opportunity in America through empowering students, investing in education and getting people to work in the 21st century.

We agree. The bill not only rejects the painful cuts from sequestration—it provides additional funding in several key areas, especially early childhood education. Here are seven reasons we were dancing in our offices when we saw the details of the Senate Subcommittee’s FY 2014 Labor, Health and Human Services Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill:

1. Early Childhood Education: A $1.43 billion increase for Head Start, including Early Head Start - Child Care Partnerships, plus a $171 million increase for existing Head Start and Early Head Start programs; a $176 million increase for the Child Care and Development Block Grants, including $110 million for new quality improvement grants and $66 million for child care assistance as well as $750 million for Preschool Development Grants.
2. Implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA): $5.2 billion to the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services to implement the Affordable Care Act, an increase from $3.9 billion in FY 2013.  The ACA will help nearly 30 million Americans, including nearly 15 million women, to access high-quality, affordable health insurance.
3. Mental Health: $40 million for Project AWARE State grants, which will focus on making schools safer and connecting young people with mental health services, and $40 million in new funding to address shortages in the behavioral health workforce.

A recent National Women’s Law Center fact sheet showed that sixteen states had already increased funding for early learning programs this year and several more were considering increases. Three more states—Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington—have since finalized budgets that include notable new investments for early care and education.

In Massachusetts, the FY 2014 budget designated over $26 million in new funding for early care and education, including $15 million to reduce the waiting list for child care assistance for low-income children, and $11.5 million for a rate reserve that will help raise the salaries of early educators. It is the first budget since 2009 that seeks to restore funding that was cut during the economic recession. Read more »

"I believe our budget, and the debate around developing a budget, should be about our values and priorities — about what kind of country we want to be in the future. But in recent years, our budget debate has been too focused on averting artificial crises. This has made it extremely difficult to focus on policies that confront real, long-term problems, like maintaining our leadership in the 21st century and continuing to grow our middle class. Expanding access to quality early childhood education is exactly this kind of policy. It is a proven opportunity to help our kids — and therefore our country — succeed in the future. It would help millions of working parents right now. And we’ve got to get it done." – Senator Patty Murray 

With so much focus in Congress on cutting vital programs to reduce a deficit that is already shrinking, Senator Patty Murray’s remarks yesterday at the Center for American Progress on investing in our youngest children were exciting to hear. Her message was clear: expanding access to high-quality early childhood programs is a wise investment, not just because of the economic returns — which are substantial — but also because expanding access to high-quality programs gives children a chance to succeed. 

Senator Murray talked about her own experience as a preschool teacher and explained that she could identify, on the very first day, which children had been in a program for three-year-olds and which ones hadn’t. She discussed the broad range of skills that children develop through their early learning experiences, such as participation during circle time and the ability to hold and use a pencil. These skills are building blocks that children need before entering the K-12 system to ensure they are not behind before they even start kindergarten. Read more »

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report Tuesday outlining the dual benefits that an increased tobacco tax would have for our country. The tax, proposed by the President to help finance early learning programs, would have the favorable side-effect of boosting public health. 

A 94-cent tax hike on tobacco products is predicted to yield $78 billion over ten years, which would be invested in expanding access to and enhancing the quality of early learning programs. Such a substantial investment in early learning will undoubtedly benefit our youngest children. Moreover, the tax would afford our nation remarkable health gains. 

The health risks incurred by tobacco products are universally acknowledged, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [PDF] citing cigarette smoking as the cause for 20% of all deaths in the United States. The report confirms that tobacco taxes are "a highly effective control strategy" in reducing consumption and subsequently extending lives. Read more »

Last week, Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced the Strengthening America’s Schools Act of 2013, a bill to reauthorize (fancy word for “update and fix”) the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind.

The “mark-up” of the bill—when the HELP Committee votes on amendments and hopefully sends the bill to the full Senate—starts tomorrow.

The National Women’s Law Center supports http://www.nwlc.org/resource/letter-help-committee-support-strengthening-americas-schools-act this bill, and urges the Senate HELP Committee to further strengthen it during tomorrow’s mark-up. Read more »

The hashtag “#PreKForAll” was trending on Twitter nationwide less than 30 minutes into the National Women’s Law Center’s “Tweetchat,” which encouraged conversation about the importance of high-quality early learning opportunities. The chat was held as part of this week’s national Early Learning Day of Action, which aimed to generate support for increased investments in these programs.

Senators Patty Murray, Dick Durbin and Kirsten Gillibrand, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Director of the Office of Public Engagement Paulette Aniskoff all joined the conversation that would continue for hours beyond its allotted one-hour time slot. Read more »