Kathy Patterson

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Stronger Together The Federal Landscape
2009 Water Cooler Discussion Sacramento,
California January 30, 2009
Kathy Patterson Senior Officer for Government
Relations Pew Center on the States
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• Pew Center on the States
• Pre-K Now has joined the Pew Center on the States
  as part of Pews continuing campaign to show the
  proven benefits of early investment in children.
• The Pew Center on the States houses multiple
  initiatives promoting investments in young
  children and their families that provide a proven
  return on investment.
• Including
• Partnership for Americas Economic Success, a
  project created by a unique alliance of business
  leaders, economists, advocates, and a dozen
  funders to document the economic impacts to the
  nation of investing in children from before birth
  to age 5
• A childrens dental health initiative that works
  to increase access to dental care for low-income
  children
• A campaign to increase access to home-visiting
  programs for disadvantaged families.

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• Pre-K Now
• Pre-K Now, a campaign of the Pew Center on the
  States, collaborates with advocates and
  policymakers to advance high-quality, voluntary
  pre-kindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-olds.
• Since 2001, Pew has committed more than 83
  million to advance a state-led movement for
  high-quality pre-kindergarten for all 3- and
  4-year-olds.
• Pre-K Now was launched in 2002 with Pew funding
  as part of a broader early education initiative.
• Our vision is a nation where every child enters
  kindergarten prepared to succeed.

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The Pre-K Movement

• In 2007, the Wall Street Journal described the
• pre-kindergarten movement as one of the most
  significant expansions in public education in the
  90 years since World War I, when kindergarten
  first became standard in American schools.

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Pre-K Around the Country

• Total state appropriations for pre-k increased
  from 3.6 billion in FY06 to 5.2 billion in
  FY09, or about 45.
• Nationwide, enrollment in state pre-k increased
  from about 943,000 in FY06 to more than 1.16
  million in FY09, or about 23.
• The South continues to outpace all
• other regions of the country
• 12 states still lack a state pre-k program, 7
  of them have no investment in pre-k or Head Start

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Growth of state support for pre-k nationwide
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Importance of Pre-K to Voters Hart Research
Poll
70
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Support for Pre-K Findings by Hart Research
Majority Says Federal Government Doing Too Little
on Pre-K Overall, do you think that the federal
government is doing too much, about the right
amount, or too little to make sure that all
parents have access to affordable
pre-kindergarten programs for their young
children?
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Support for Pre-K Findings by Hart Research
Strong Support for Proposed Federal Pre-K
Incentive Grants Would you favor or oppose the
federal government adding funding to what state
and local governments already put into
pre-kindergarten programs?
When told that the proposal would cost an
estimated average of forty-five dollars per
taxpayer, more than 60 of the respondents still
favored the proposal.
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What can federal government do to support the
goal of pre-k for all 3 and 4-year-olds?

• Incentive funding for quality A new federal
  grant specifically to support quality elements of
  state pre-kindergarten programs
• Programs and funding to help grow the early
  education workforce of teachers with BA degrees
  and training in early childhood development

• Fund up to the authorized levels the existing
  programs that partner with and thereby support
  state pre-k including Head Start and Early Head
  Start, Child Care, Title I, IDEA.
• Executive branch leadership to bridge the
  stovepipes of current federal programs such
  as a White House czar for early education

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What can the federal government do in the
middle of a severe recession?

• State fiscal relief to alleviate pressure on
  pre-k funding
• Funding for workforce preparation
• Directed funding for state/local early education

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Where are we today Washington DC, January 30,
2009

• Economic Recovery Package with significant
  support for early education
• New Administration including new President and
  new Education Secretary with strong commitment to
  early education

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Economic Recovery Legislation Early Childhood

• House and Senate packages include
• 2.1 B for Head Start (Specifically 1.1B for
  Early Head Start)
• 2B for CCDBG
• ESEA Title I funds (13B in House 11B in
  Senate of which 15 is required to be spent to
  support preschool)
• School Modernization and Repair Program (14B
  in House 16B in Senate)
• 13B for Individuals with Disabilities Education
  Act (IDEA)
• 100M for Teacher Quality Partnership Grants

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• From the White House Presidents Education Agenda

• Zero to Five Plan
• Emphasize early care and education for infants
• Establish Early Learning Challenge Grants to
  promote state Zero to Five efforts and help
  states move toward voluntary, universal
  pre-school.
• Early Head Start and Head Start
• Quadruple Early Head Start
• Increase Head Start funding
• Improve quality for both.
• Affordable, High-Quality Child Care
• Increase access to affordable and high-quality
  child care to ease the burden on working
  families.

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• From the Campaign Trail Plans and Promises

• Invest 10 billion to
• Create Early Learning Challenge Grants
  promoting Zero to Five efforts (a potential
  funding stream for pre-k)
• Quadruple the number eligible for Early Head
  Start
• Increase Head Start quality
• Create Presidential Early Learning Council to
  promote coordination across federal agencies.
• Allocate 250 million for Head Start regional
  training centers
• Work to ensure high-quality, voluntarypre-k for
  all

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• From the Campaign Trail Plans and Promises

• Adequately fund the Child Care Development Block
  Grant (CCDBG) every year
• Double the resources for child care quality
  within CCDBG
• Expand home visiting to a half-million more
  low-income mothers
• Create and use Presidents Early Learning Council
  to coordinate more public-private partnerships
  for early learning
• No legislative details of the plan are yet
  available, but support on Capitol Hill is evident

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• Bills introduced
• S 206 Early Education Act (Boxer, CA) funding
  stream for state pre-k for 4-year-olds.
• HR 702 PRE-K Act (Hirono, HI) incentive grants
  to states to improve quality of pre-k.
• HR 555 (Kucinic, OH) universal pre-k.
• S 7 (Reid, NV) Education Opportunity Act of
  2009 Signals education reform priorities
• In the works
• Re-introduction of other pre-k bills
• CCDBG reauthorization
• Appropriations
• Reform and reauthorization of NCLB?
• A legislative version of the Presidents plan?

111th Congress Gearing Up for Action
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Coming Budget and Appropriations

• Congress acts on FY09 Omnibus Appropriations Bill
• President submits FY10 budget
• Congress acts on FY10 budget
• Issues funding for key early education
  priorities CCDBG, Head Start, Title I, IDEA

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Other Legislation

• Workforce Investment Act
• ESEA/No Child Left Behind
• IDEA Reauthorization
• Education Begins at Home Act

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Regulatory Changes Removing Barriers to
Collaboration

• Braiding/Blending funds what would make it
  easier for you?
• What can be done to help you serve more children
  in better programs ?
• What barriers to coordination exist and how can
  they be removed in a way that benefits children
  the most?

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Early learning councils required by Head Start
Reauthorization and timely now with new infusion
of economic recovery funds Challenge Using the
Early Learning Council as a true coordinating
body where all early education stakeholders have
a voice Leadership on the local and state level
is critical to ensure that coordination and
collaboration happen there are plenty of kids
that need to be served.
Coordination Building a Cohesive System
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Challenges at the state and local level

• ASAP Developing a state plan for allocating new
  funds from the economic recovery package
• Effectively spending new funds to promote
  recovery AND build for the future continuing
  federal investments in early education

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Contact  

• Kathy Patterson
• Senior Officer,
• Government Relations
• Pew Center on the States
• 901 E Street, NW
• 8th Floor
• Washington, DC 20004
• kpatterson_at_pewtrusts.org