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Archive for the ‘Funding’ Category

San Antonio Expands Preschool

Posted in Funding, National, Pre-kindergarten on May 8, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Photo: Michele McDonald for Strategies for Children

Photo: Michele McDonald for Strategies for Children

Last November, San Antonio took a Texas-sized step forward in early education. City residents approved a 1/8th cent sales tax to pay for Mayor Julián Castro’s ambitious new plan to offer high-quality, full-day preschool to four-year-olds.

Recommended by a blue ribbon panel, Pre-K 4 SA (prekindergarten for San Antonio) will work with school districts to serve 22,400 children over eight years, improving and expanding the state’s preschool programs. The sales tax increase is estimated to cost less than $8 per year for median income San Antonio households.

“We expect interest to skyrocket as parents learn more about how this high-quality program can help put their children on a path to academic success,” Castro said in a statement.

Castro plans to deliver “gold-standard academics” and “intensive professional development for staff members and extensive parental supports,” Education Week says in an article about the program.

Tuition will be free for disadvantaged four-year-olds, including children from low-income families, children who cannot speak or understand English, homeless children, children whose parents serve in the military and children in foster care. (more…)

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House of Representatives Passes FY14 State Budget

Posted in Funding, MA Legislature, MA state budget on April 25, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

On April 24, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a $34 billion FY14 state budget, relying on funds from state reserves as well as a $500 million tax bill to support transportation.

The House budget includes $477 million for the Department of Early Education and Care. Amendments adopted to the Committee on Ways and Means budget, which had proposed a $15.8 million cut to EEC, restored $5 million to the department’s budget. These funds ensure level-funding for UPK, Head Start, and Services for Infants and Parents (Coordinated Family and Community Engagement grants). In addition, a one-time $7.5 million rate reserve for early education and care providers was funded by the House.

The final House budget includes an office of compliance management to oversee EEC procedures for ensuring child safety, as well as a special commission to assess the efficiency of early education and care services and the timely placement of children in programs. However, it cuts funding for early education access, funded across three line items, by $11.5 million which will increase the state’s wait list. Currently 30,000 children ages birth-5 are on a waiting list for a state subsidy for early education and care.

Click here for a complete listing of early education and care line items in the state budget.

The budget process now moves to the Senate Ways and Means committee, expected to release its proposal in mid-May.

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Obama’s Plan for Early Education

Posted in Federal, Funding, Head Start, National on April 17, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

obama budget pic

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

It was inspiring to hear President Obama call for universal preschool in his State of the Union address. Now, he’s providing a plan for a national expansion of preschool in his fiscal year 2014 federal budget proposal.

“A zip code should never predetermine the quality of any child’s educational opportunities,” the White House said in a statement. Sadly, zip codes do matter when they define high concentrations of poverty. As the White House notes, “studies show that children from low-income families are less likely to have access to high-quality early education, and less likely to enter school prepared for success.”

As part of a $75 billon investment over ten years, Obama wants to create a new federal/state partnership to offer high-quality preschool programs to the country’s low- and moderate-income four year-olds, children whose families are at or below 200% of the poverty level. Also included in this plan is $15 billion over ten years to expand home visiting programs, and $9.6 billion for Head Start, with $1.4 billion of this for new competitive grants to build partnerships between Early Head Start and child care providers.

Revenues for Obama’s plan would come from a tax increase on cigarettes and other tobacco products. (more…)

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Corporate Leaders Support Universal Pre-K

Posted in Achievement gap, Business and economy, Funding, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Pre-kindergarten on March 28, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

John E. Pepper Jr. and James Zimmerman, two prominent corporate leaders, recently took to the pages of The New York Times to declare universal access to high-quality pre-kindergarten “not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do.”

Pepper is a former chairman and chief executive of Procter & Gamble and a former chairman of the Walt Disney Company. Zimmerman is a former chairman and chief executive of Macy’s.

“Children who attend high-quality preschool do much better when they arrive in kindergarten, and this makes an enormous difference for their later success,” they write in a Times op-ed. “The data on preschool is overwhelmingly positive. Although some studies suggest that the positive impact decreases over time, this is mainly attributable to differences in the quality of preschool and of the schooling that follows — not a deficiency in preschool itself.”

Pepper and Zimmerman cite a 2010 report from the Institute for a Competitive Workforce, a program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which notes future savings of $2.50 to $17 for each dollar invested in high-quality early education. They cite Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman’s estimate of a 7-10% return on investment. They cite research that finds children who struggle with reading in third grade are four times less likely than other children to finish high school by 19.

“The connections from preschool to reading proficiency to high school completion — a bare-minimum requirement in today’s economy — could not be clearer,” they write. “Universally available prekindergarten is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do. Raising lifetime wages (and thereby tax revenues) and reducing the likelihood that children will drop out of school, get involved in crime, and become a burden on the justice system more than make up for the costs of early childhood education. …

“We have spent most of our careers in business and have come to support quality prekindergarten for all children, especially those whose families cannot afford it, because we know these programs work. The only question is how to bring them to a huge scale. Our nation’s future demands it. If there ever was a nonpartisan issue, this is it.”

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Globe Endorses Governor Patrick’s Plans

Posted in Funding, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget on March 27, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Momentum continues to grow in media outlets across the state including two editorials in the Boston Globe endorsing Governor Patrick’s plan to dramatically increase the commonwealth’s investment in early education by $131 million in fiscal year 2014.

On Sunday, “Patrick’s ambitious tax plan offers basis for compromise,” an editorial about the governor’s budget proposal, noted that while some on Beacon Hill are willing to put off an expansion of early education for another day, such a delay would come “at the cost of a generation of toddlers who are already falling behind their peers.”

Tuesday’s editorial, “Governor rightly pushes for earlier investment in children,” made an in-depth case, saying that the governor’s plan “to expand access to early education is a potential game-changer for poor children, working parents and even the state budget.”  The Globe also praised the governor’s plan to eliminate the wait list for state-funded early education and care, which is 30,000 names long.

The Globe called for strategic spending.   “Improving quality is essential,” the newspaper said, citing the need for qualified educators.  And “as the state ramps up this investment… it must monitor progress and demand results.”

Massachusetts is ready to expand its commitment to research-based investment in young children. The state has strong early education programs and practices as well as an eagerness to improve. Now all it needs is a substantial investment that offers a seat at the preschool table to more of the commonwealth’s children.

Massachusetts readers, please contact your legislators today and ask them to invest in high-quality early education in the FY14 state budget.

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Time to Get Serious about Early Learning

Posted in Funding, Reading proficiency on November 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Photo: Caroline Silber for Strategies for Children

Barbara O’Brien, former lieutenant governor of Colorado and a consultant to the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, offers a prescription for ensuring that children become proficient readers by the end of third grade. The key is to start early. “By the end of third grade, a student is halfway between birth and young adulthood,” O’Brien writes in Education Week. (See “How Serious Are We About Early Learning?“)

Noting that over the past year more than a dozen states enacted laws designed to improve third grade reading, O’Brien urges a step back from the debate and/or legislation in a number of states focused on retaining third graders who struggle with reading. Here in Massachusetts, An Act Relative to Third Grade Reading Proficiency would establish an Early Literacy Expert Panel to advise state education agencies on research-based strategies to improve the language and literacy development of children from birth to age 9.

“Everyone who has the ability to direct resources, whether they are philanthropic grants, public funds, or volunteer-based, should ensure that every young child who is likely to struggle in school has these opportunities to become ready for school: evidence-based home-visiting and parenting programs, access to primary health care and developmental services, timely and appropriate referrals to early intervention and special education, access to high-quality prekindergarten programs, access to excellent child care and Head Start, and access to high-quality, full-day kindergarten programs,” O’Brien writes. (more…)

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Election 2012 Question of the Week

Posted in Election, Funding on October 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Election Day is fast approaching, and we want to make sure that candidates include young children and families in their education agendas. So, from now until the Friday before Election Day, I will run a question of the week to ask candidates running for state and federal office. The regular Friday “In Quotes” feature will return after Election Day.

Meanwhile, check out “Eight questions about young children to ask candidates” that I suggest in a post on MassMoms.com, on the (Worcester) Telegram & Gazette website. And see the Election 2012 page on our website. It provides tips for voters on how to focus attention on high-quality early education and reading proficiency this campaign season and information for candidates interested in becoming champions for young children.

Here is this week’s question:

A recent report from Child Care Aware finds that in 35 states and the District of Columbia the annual cost for center-based care exceeds a year’s in-state tuition and fees at a four-year public college. Once again, Massachusetts has the highest annual costs in the nation for both 4-year-olds and infants in full-time center-based care. What will you do to make early education and care more affordable for families?

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Invest More in Years When Children Learn More

Posted in Business and economy, Funding, Research on October 11, 2012 | 1 Comment »

A recent column by Phil Power, the president of the Center for Michigan, which describes itself as a “centrist think-and-do tank,” has a message that resonates beyond that Midwestern state.

“One of the things that gets people maddest about the way government works is when we know something is true, and the authorities do the opposite, time and time again,” Phil Power writes in the Holland [MI] Sentinel. “It is beyond dispute that children learn the quickest and best from birth to age 5. When do we usually start spending a lot of public money on educating our children? At age 5, when they enter kindergarten.”

Citing research on the long-lasting benefits of Michigan’s Great Start Readiness Program, Power supports efforts to revise Michigan’s School Aid Act include prekindergarten. “Early childhood programs available to all,” he writes, “could be an absolute game-changer for Michigan kids — and for Michigan employers, who are complaining loudly about not being able to find skilled employees.”

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MA Legislature Sends FY13 Budget to Governor

Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education, Funding, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget on June 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

On Thursday, June 28, the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate approved the $32.5 billion FY13 state budget that was released by the conference committee. The budget draws $350 million from the state’s “rainy day” account, leaving roughly $1.2 billion in reserves. The proposal was sent to Governor Deval Patrick for his approval. The budget includes $488.1 million for the Department of Early Education and Care. It also includes $23.95 million for full-day kindergarten grants, an increase of $1 million over FY12 funding levels. Of the $7.44 million at stake across early education and care-related line items, $5.23 million made it into the conference committee budget.

Here is how line items relating to early education and care fared:

  • EEC Administration (3000-1000) — $12.32 million
  • Access Management (3000-2000) — $5.93 million
  • Supportive Child Care (3000-3050) — $77.33 million
  • Income Eligible (3000-4060) — $231.87 million
  • Services for Infants & Parents (3000-7050) —  $18.16 million
  • Reach Out and Read (3000-7070) — $750,000
  • Kindergarten Expansion Grants (7030-1002) – $23.95 million
  • Universal Pre-Kindergarten (3000-5075) — $7.5 million (includes language aligning UPK with the Massachusetts Quality Rating and Improvement System)
  • Massachusetts State Scholarship program (7070-0065) — $87.61 million (includes language preserving FY12 funding levels for the Early Childhood Educators Scholarship)

The FY13 budget also includes allocations for line items related to early education and care that, due to matching House and Senate funding, did not require conference committee negotiations:

  • Head Start  (3000-5000) — $8 million
  • Early Childhood Mental Health (3000-6075) — $750,000
  • TANF (3000-4050) — $125.5 million

Click here for more information on early education and care and related items in the FY13 Massachusetts state budget.

Governor Patrick now has 10 days to approve the budget and can make vetoes or amendments. The new fiscal year begins on July 1, however a $1.25 billion interim budget was recently passed to provide state government with funds to operate through July 10.

Massachusetts readers, send a message to Governor Patrick encouraging him to approve early education and care line items in the FY13 state budget.

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Moving from “Children at Risk” to “Children at Promise”

Posted in Assessments, Early educators, Early Learning Challenge, Federal, Funding on May 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Photo: Alessandra Hartkopf for Strategies for Children

For years, “children at risk” have been the buzzwords used for describing vulnerable children. Why not think instead of “children at promise” – of assets rather than deficits? This was the theme of last week’s Seventh Annual Community Dialogue on Early Education and Care at Wheelock College – “Moving From At Risk to At Promise: Transforming Policies, Practices and Communities to Support Young Children and Their Families.”

“We went from ‘A Nation at Risk’ [1983 report – ‘A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform’ – of the National Commission on Excellence in Education] to children at risk,” said J. Andres Ramirez of Rhode Island College in his opening address. “The rhetoric changed from a whole nation to pinpointing specific students… I think we should think about children placed at risk. We are trying to change that to children placed at promise. What will it really take?”

Part of the answer, Ramirez said, comes with aligning “mandated curriculum and standards” with “students’ needs, rights and background” and with the accumulation of educators’ experience or the “thought collective of the profession.”

If Ramirez set the intellectual tone for the day, then Helen Blank, director of leadership and public policy at the National Women’s Law Center, set the political tone. She issued a strong call to action after tracing the history of efforts to expand access to high-quality early education and care. As promising as the federal Early Learning Challenge is, she said, it is not enough. (Read Helen Blank’s speech.)

“This is an exciting yet challenging time for young children and early childhood with the growing discussion about the need to lay a strong foundation in the early years. Yet with all this talk in this extraordinarily hostile economic and political climate, we walk a tightrope in terms of sustaining forward momentum while avoiding the danger of promising to do more with less,” Blank said. (more…)

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