Transcript Document

Early Childhood Development
Investing In America’s Children
• Access to early childhood development
programs can help break the cycle of poverty
• Reliable child care enables
parents to work
Our focus is on quality early
education and child care
Early Childhood Development
Research shows that children who participated
in a quality program during their preschool
years:
•Are better prepared to learn
•Have higher self-esteem
•More developed social skills
Early Learning Benefits the Community
Investing in early learning programs now will
save us much in the future:
•
•
•
•
•
Reduced need for special education
Better health outcomes for children
Lower criminal justice costs
Increased self-sufficiency
Increased productivity
Return on Investment
The return on investments in
early childhood development
are between $7- $9 for every $1
spent.
Quality early
childhood development
programs are a smart
investment!
Head Start
Federally funded program, provides comprehensive
child development services to disadvantaged
preschool children (ages 3-6) and their families. These
services include:
o
o
o
o
o
School readiness and cognitive development services
Frequent medical screening, immunizations, and dental
services
Healthy nutritional assistance
Referral services for a range of individual child and family
needs
An opportunity for parents to participate in school decisionmaking
FY 11: $7.6 billion for HS/EHS serving about 965,000 children/families
Early Head Start
Federally funded program with a mission to promote
healthy prenatal outcomes for pregnant women, enhance
the development of children ages 3 and under, and
promotes healthy family functioning. These services
include:
o
o
o
o
o
Quality early education both in and out of the home
Parenting education
Comprehensive health and mental health services, including
services to women before, during, and after pregnancy
Nutrition education
Family support services
Head Start Stories
Melissa’s Story about Head Start
o Head Start Parents are more emotionally supportive, read to their
children daily, and were less likely to engage in negative parenting
behaviors
Merril’s Story About Fatherhood Initiative Programs in Head Start
o Studies showed favorable impacts with fathering and father-child
interaction within Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
Tony’s Story about nutrition programs in Head Start
o Children who are participants of Head Start programs are automatically
eligible for free meals and a snack each day in the program, using
another federally funded program
Julia’s Story About Early Head Start
o Concerns about a child’s development are evaluated by staff through
screenings to make sure each child’s needs are addressed and met
Child Care
Affordable, quality child care is crucial to parent’s productivity at
work and children’s intellectual development
But, the cost of child care is often too expensive for low income
and moderate-income working families
Since 2000, the cost of child care has increased twice as fast as the
median income of families with children.
Funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant
(CCDBG) comes from three sources:
1. CCDBG funding is included at a mandatory level specified in the
welfare law
2. Congress annually appropriates a discretionary amount
3. States may choose to use part of their federal welfare block
grant. The amount varies from year to year and has decreased
dramatically because of states’ fiscal crises.
Fiscal Year 2011 Funding
•
On April 8, with only minutes left before a government shutdown occurred, a deal was
finally made a deal to finalize the FY 2011 federal budget. Although the final bill has
some $38 billion in budget cuts, Head Start, Early Head Start, and child care assistance
were for the most part spared.
•
Head Start: FY 2011 budget included an increase of $340 million for Head Start over
the FY 2010 levels, this meant that all children currently in Head Start- including those
funded by ARRA will remain enrolled. [See state-level data in CLASP’s state fact
sheets ].
•
A $100 million increase in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG)
from FY2010. This will sustain a small number of the children served by ARRA. It
includes a proportional increase over baseline (pre-ARRA) funding levels in the
quality set-aside (from $271 million to $284 million) and the infant/toddler set-aside
(from $99.5 million to $104 million). The bill provides $2.227 billion in total for the
CCDBG. NWLC Report
What Congress Must Do This Year
• Sustain current service levels for Head Start, Early Head Start
and CCDBG in FY 2012 -- increase of $1.2 billion for the Child
Care and Development Block Grant and a total allotment of $8.1
billion for Head Start and Early Head Start in FY 2012.
• Key Players – House and Senate leadership, and:
o
o
Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations
Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran
(R-MS).
House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations
Subcommittee Chairman Danny Rehberg (R-MT) and Ranking Member Rosa
DeLauro (D-CT).
Current Status in the House
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI-1) proposed a FY 2012
budget in April 2011:
• includes significant cuts and restructuring of programs like Medicaid,
Medicare, and SNAP.
• cuts non-defense domestic discretionary programs by $400 billion. These
include Head Start, child care, community health centers, and hundreds of
other programs.
The House passed the budget on April 15, 235-193.
In May 2011, the House Appropriations Committee released its allocations:
• Head Start, Early Head Start, and CCDBG within the appropriations bill
that funds the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS)
and Education (“Labor HHS”)
• House Labor HHS programs will see $18 billion in cuts in FY 2012.
• The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis: really $25 billion.
House: Pushing for
Investments
House Dear Colleague Sign on 5/20/11 (62 total):
George Miller (D-CA), Mike Ross (D-AR), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Joe
Courtney (D-CT), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Pete Stark (D-CA), Dale Kildee (D-MI), John Dingell (D-MI), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Chellie
Pingree (D-ME), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Barney Frank (D-MA), Chis Van Hollen (D-MD), Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (D – American
Samoa), John Yarmuth (D-KY), Sander Levin (D-MI), Yvette Clarke (D-MD), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA),
Donald Payne (D-NJ), Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Lois Capps (D-CA), Jim Langevin (D-RH), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Silvestre Reyes
(D-TX), Hansen Clarke (D-MI), Gerald Connolly (D-VA), Bob Filner (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Al Green (D-TX), Andre
Carson (D-IN), John Garamendi (D-CA), Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA), Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL), Judy Chu (D-CA), Luis V.
Gutierrez (D-IL), Pedro R. Pierluisi (D-Puerto Rico), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Maxine Waters (D-CA, Jerry McNerney (D-CA),
Peter Welch (D-VT), Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), David N. Cicilline (D-RI), Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY),
Christopher S. Murphy (D-CT), Jared Polis (D-CO), John Lewis (D-GA), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (DFL), Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (D-Northern Mariana Islands), Corrine Brown (D-FL), Leonard L. Boswell (D-IA), Louise M.
Slaughter (D-NY), Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Steven R. Rothman (D-NJ), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Tammy
Baldwin (D-MN), Robert. C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA)
Timing:
• Subcommittee: July 26. Text will be released 24 hours before.
• Full Committee: August 2. Text will be released 3 days before
• House Floor: September
• House on Recess June 27-July 5 and July 18-24
Current Status in the Senate
The Senate rejected the House budget on May 25, 57-40.
No schedule for consideration of Appropriations bills.
Senate on recess July 4-10
Franken/Snowe/Casey Senate sign-on 6/10/11 (33 total):
Mark Begich (D-AK), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) , Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Richard
Blumenthal (D-CT), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Olympia Snowe
(R-ME), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), John Kerry (D-MA), Carl Levin (D-MI), Debbie
Stabenow (D-MI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Al Franken (D-MN), Claire McCaskill
(D-MO), Max Baucus (D-MT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Robert Menendez (D-NJ),
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Tom Udall (D-NM), Charles
Schumer (D-NY), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ron Wyden (DOR), Bob Casey (D-PA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tim Johnson
(D-SD), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Maria Cantwell (D-WA),
John Rockefeller (D-WV), Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Early Childhood Laser Talk
Engage: Head Start, Early Head Start and child care
services are the kind of smart investments we should
prioritize in a time of deficits because they enable lowincome parents to access reliable child care while they
work and provide at-risk children with the early learning
experiences they need for success in school and life.
Problem: Yet Head Start only serves half of eligible
preschoolers, Early Head Start only 5 percent of eligible
infants and toddlers, and child care subsidies only reach
one out of seven low-income working families.
Early Childhood Laser Talk
Inform: Early childhood services like Head Start and child care
benefit as a society by:
•reduced need for special education and remediation
•better health outcomes
•reduced need for social services
•lower criminal justice costs
•and increased self-sufficiency and productivity among
families.
Despite this return on investment, the House Budget proposes to
cut the category of spending that includes early childhood
programs by $500 billion over 5 years.
Early Childhood Laser Talk
Call to Action: We need Congress to protect at-risk children and
working families. Will you please speak with the House and Senate
Labor-HHS subcommittee members and urge them to support an
increase of $1.2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block
Grant (CCDBG) and total allotment of $8.1 billion for Head Start and
Early Head Start in FY 2012? These levels will sustain effective,
high-quality services for at-risk, low-income children and their
families across the nation.
• Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LaborHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA)
and Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-AL)
• House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Denny
Rehberg (R-MT) and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
Part of the Larger Fight on Deficits
These proposed cuts are part of a larger battle over budget cuts
and deficit reduction.
Ask your senators and representative to support a balanced
and fair approach to deficit reduction that protects lowincome Americans. Specifically, urge them to communicate
these principles to Congressional leadership and those
negotiating a budget deal: Any deficit reduction plan must
protect low-income Americans and not increase poverty.
Important services like Head Start, child care, Medicaid,
SNAP, and Social Security must be exempted from any
automatic deficit “triggers” and across the board cuts.
RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund
750 First St NE, Ste 1040
Washington DC 20002
RESULTS Early Childhood Development Campaign Contacts:
Meredith Dodson, [email protected], (202) 782-7100, x116
Jos Linn, [email protected], (515) 288-3622
www.results.org