Looking Ahead: What’s In Store for Early Learning

The Obama administration has developed a birth to 3rd grade early learning agenda which includes initiatives to help states create or expand high-quality early care and education programs; encourage inclusion of early learning programs within education reform; and incorporate early learning in neighborhood revitalization.

The FY 2011 Budget Proposal: President Obama’s fiscal year 2011 budget proposal includes significant funding for new and existing programs supporting early learning, including:

• $1.6 billion increase ($6.64 billion total) in the Child Care and Development  Block Grant;
• $989 million increase ($8.2 billion total) for Head Start and Early Head Start;
• $9.3 billion for the creation of the Early Learning Challenge Fund; and
• $1 billion increase for child nutrition.

The Early Learning Challenge Fund (ELCF): Pending legislation creates a competitive grant program to help states invest in high-quality early learning systems and improve the quality of their early childhood education programs. This unprecedented commitment to early learning would offer states, including California, the opportunity to build and strengthen early learning services for the kids who need it most.

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Reauthorization: Congress is currently working on reauthorizing ESEA, the nation’s major education law. This reauthorization provides an exciting opportunity to include, align and support early learning programs within ESEA and to broaden its focus to include young children.
Other Federal Opportunities to Include Early Learning:

• Reauthorizing and strengthening the Child Care and Development Block Grant;
• Creating a new Presidential Early Learning Council; and
• Incorporating early learning into Department of Education funding opportunities.

The Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services have joined their early childhood efforts, ensuring increased inclusion of early learning within their policies. This unprecedented alignment has opened up new early learning opportunities within programs such as Early Reading First, Promise Neighborhood Grants, Innovation Grants, School Improvement Grants and Choice Neighborhood Grants.

Federal Efforts to Invest in Young Children

Additionally, President Obama’s administration has also shown leadership in integrating early learning within programs across several departments, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Labor.

These federal policy developments present a major opportunity to fulfill the hopes and potential of millions of vulnerable California children and families during challenging budget times in our state. It is critical that policymakers in California, home to almost 13 percent of the nation’s young low-income children, make investments, develop policies and maximize federal funding to strengthen California’s high-quality early learning system.

Advancing the California Early Education Agenda

In light of these new opportunities, California has taken critical steps to ensure our state is competitive to receive federal funding. The state has already made progress toward building a high-quality early learning system for children from birth to 5, having:

• launched a state-level process to create a quality rating and improvement (QRIS)system;
• consolidated a number of our state-funded child development programs;
• included early learning programs in efforts to develop a statewide education data system; and
• established the California State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care. This advisory council will coordinate the state’s early learning efforts and build upon the Early Learning Quality Improvement System (ELQIS) committee’s work to improve the quality of early care and education programs.

California has already benefitted from the administration’s leadership and expanded investment in early education. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provided more than $5 billion in early care and education funding, of which California’s share is more than $500 million. This includes funds to serve more than 7,000 additional children and improve the quality of Head Start and Early Head Start programs. The stimulus funds also helped create new jobs; ensure families could get back to work; and give California an opportunity to invest in early education programs. California policymakers must continue to act quickly and thoughtfully to invest in effective programs that help close the achievement gap and fuel the long-term economic health of our communities.

Early Education: A Priority for the Federal Administration

“It will be the goal of this administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education – from the day they are born to the day they begin a career... We have dramatically expanded early childhood education and will continue to improve its quality, because we know that the most formative learning comes in those first years of life.”
-President Barack Obama, in a February 24, 2009 address to joint session of Congress

“By improving the quality of early child development and learning, we can give children a strong start in life. Nothing is more important to their long term health and success.“
-U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, in a September 17, 2009 statement

"This is a unique moment in time when early learning…is recognized as the first and most critical stage in human development. Today we have a special opportunity to build a bigger, better coordinated system of early care and education. It is time to transform early learning…into a system that truly and consistently prepares children for success in school and in life.”
— U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, National Association for the Education of Young Children conference, November 18, 2009

California has long led the nation in generating innovative ideas. We must seize this opportunity to become a national leader in early childhood education by securing these new funds and ensuring they are well spent on a high-quality early learning system. In doing so, we can usher in a new era of support for our next generation.