Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Government Funded Pre Kindergarten Programs

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New Spending Financed By Taxpayers

Governor Gretchen Whitmer calls for funding to expand free preschool programs

The HarkinMiller proposal would cost federal taxpayers roughly $26.8 billion in the first five years and such sums as may be necessary thereafter. This figure does not include taxpayer obligations for the state matches. So not only will taxpayers be on the hook for billions in new federal spending, but the federal-state partnership obligates taxpayers to finance billions more in new state spending.

It is also likely that a new large-scale government preschool program will crowd out private preschool providers by encouraging participation in free government programs and by threatening to over-regulate private providers that opt in to the federal program. For example, a provider that is not a local public school but enrolls students through the subsidized program must enter into strong partnerships with the local public school district.

Strong Start For Americas Children Act

The HarkinMiller proposal would provide billions in federal grants to help states grow center-based preschool programs for three- and four-year-olds and require states to match the federal funding. Initially, states would be required to provide a 10 percent match of their federal grant, growing to 100 percent in year eight and thereafter.

States must also have a comprehensive early learning assessment system that organizes information about the process and context of young childrens learning and development to help early childhood educators make informed instructional and programmatic decisions. This system must include, among other things, measures of the quality of adult-child interactions.

States must also:

  • Establish or plan to establish early learning and development standards that describe what children from birth to kindergarten entry should know and be able to do,
  • Implement performance measures for obesity prevention programs,
  • Ensure that preschool teachers have comparable salaries to teachers in the K12 system, and
  • Increase the number of preschool teachers with bachelors degrees in early childhood education.

Once a state establishes universal preschool for every four-year-old under 200 percent of the federal poverty line, it may then use federal funds to extend eligibility to three-year-old children.

Get Important Early Childhood Education News And Analysis Delivered Straight To Your Inbox

In the most recent study, the researchers found that children who did not attend the program fared better down the road academically and behaviorally. They compared two cohorts of low-income children, including one group that had been selected to receive a spot, at random, from applicants for the state program and one group of children whose parents applied for a spot but did not receive one. Some of the children who did not receive a spot in the program attended Head Start, center-based child care or had home-based care.

Previous research suggests that the quality of the teachers and elementary school that children attend after pre-K may boost or undermine long-term effects of pre-K. But pre-K graduates and students in the control group of this study experienced schools and teachers of similar quality, Farran said, which suggests school quality cannot explain the negative effects.

The latest findings should be much more alarming than previous studies on this cohort of children, Farran said, because the negative effects became much more pronounced as children aged. Were choosing to enact as a policy and if its not working, we need to think about, well, what do we need to do for poor families to support them and their children so they do better in school?

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What Are The Age Requirements For Cpp

The eligibility date for preschool is the same as the eligibility date for kindergarten in your district. A child must be 3, 4 or 5 by the district’s kindergarten age cut-off date, which can be no later than October 1.

  • If a child is three years old, the child must have three significant family risk factors in their life that put him or her at risk for later school challenges.
  • If a child is served as a four- or five-year-old, the child must be age-eligible for kindergarten the next year and have one significant family risk factor present in their lives. They may only participate in CPP for one year.
  • If a child is old enough to attend kindergarten, they cannot be funded by CPP to attend the second year in preschool.

Send In Your Application

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Save a copy of the grant application form for your records. Then send it using one of the following methods:

  • Online only Click the Submit button at the bottom of the form after you have completed it.
  • Online only Save the completed application to your computer then email it to:
  • Print and mail the application form to:Alberta Child Care Grant Funding ProgramEarly Childhood Development BranchSterling Place, 9940 106 Street NWEdmonton, Alberta T5K 2N2
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    Behind The Findings Of The Tennessee Pre

    The recent Vanderbilt University findings add to the conflict in early education research over the benefit of state-funded pre-K. Many studies find that providing early learning opportunities for 4-year-olds has positive, long-term effects. Research that tracks children over longer periods of time has linked high-quality pre-K to better employment, education and health outcomes as adults, although some of the programs studied had unique aspects, like offering home visits and social services. But other studies have found pre-K to have miniscule or disappointing results on childrens outcomes.

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    Farran said much more research into state pre-K programs is needed. She urged other researchers to control for family characteristics, as she and her colleagues did. Other studies that look at long-term pre-K effects may simply compare children who go to pre-K with children who do not, Farran said, without looking at the effects of knowledgeable or motivated parents who are seeking out pre-K programs.

    That parental factor could impact student achievement and outcomes.

    We would argue that parent motivation is a critical factor to look at in terms of trying to evaluate how effective your pre-K program is, Farran said. In our study, all the parents were similarly motivated because they all applied .

    Ariel Gilreath contributed reporting to this story.

    Child Care Operating Funding

    The Child Care Health and Safety Grant 2022 will be paid to eligible CCOF providers who submit their January Enrolment Report by February 28, 2022. No application is required.

    Child Care Operating Funding is available for eligible licensed providers through CCOF Base Funding, the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative and the Early Childhood Educator Wage Enhancement .

    Providers can now submit 2022/23 renewal information for Base Funding, Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative, and ECE Wage Enhancement.

    This funding is available to:

    • assist with the day-to-day costs of running a licensed child care facility,
    • reduce fees for parents, and
    • enhance Early Childhood Educator wages.

    Participation in CCOF Base Funding, CCFRI and ECE-WE is optional. However, enrolment in CCOF Base Funding is required to apply for CCFRI and ECE-WE.

    CCOF Base Funding assists with the day to day costs of running a licensed child care facility. This funding helps child care providers maintain quality child care for the community.

    Eligibility

    Read more about CCOF Base Funding.

    The CCFRI enhances child care affordability by offering funding to eligible, licensed child care providers to reduce and stabilize monthly child care fees. Child care providers must apply to receive funding. Parents do not need to apply.

    Eligibility

    Providers eligible for CCOF Base Funding can apply for the CCFRI if they have any of these eligible care categories:

    Read more about the CCFRI.

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    Opt In And Opt Out Process

    A simple opt in enrolment process is available through SmartyGrants.

    Approved Providers who have opted in to the program during 2020 will need to opt in for the program in 2021. Services that did not opt in to the program in 2020 are able to opt in to the program in 2021.

    Services are able to opt out of the program by completing the relevant opt out process through SmartyGrants. The opt out must apply to a full term, and should be completed prior to payment for that term being progressed. Providers cannot opt in or out for part of a term. Providers must submit an opt-out form prior to the date listed below:

    • Term 2: 16 April 2021
    • Term 3: 8 July 2021
    • Term 4: 8 October 2021

    Approved Providers eligible for the JobKeeper Payment Scheme during term 1 will need to complete a payment confirmation form through SmartyGrants. The confirmation process allows services to outline the amount of JobKeeper payments being received for each service for the relevant period. This supports the calculation of payments. The timing of payments may be impacted based on the timing of information received from Providers.

    Approved Providers opting in following the introduction of JobSaver and COVID-19 micro-business grants will be required to confirm their eligibility for either grant program through the opt-in form.

    Publicly Funded Prekindergarten Education Partnerships

    Gov. Little plans to address early childhood education and all-day kindergarten funding

    In September of 2016, due to the passage of Act 166, all Vermont school districts are required to provide universal publicly funded prekindergarten education for a minimum of ten hours per week for 35 weeks annually for all 3, 4 and 5 year old children who are not enrolled in kindergarten.

    For more information about Act 166, go to: .

    Vermont school districts may provide publicly funded prekindergarten education for three- to five-year-olds by establishing partnerships with qualified early care and education programs, by operating a prekindergarten program directly, or by doing both.

    As of September 2015, to qualify for partnership, early care and education programs must have applied directly to the State of Vermont and been approved for qualification. To qualify, they must:

    • Employ or contract with a State of Vermont licensed teacher who holds an endorsement in early childhood education or early childhood special education.
    • Attain a high level of quality recognition through Vermonts Step Ahead Recognition Program .
    • Offer curriculum consistent with the Vermont Early Learning Standards
    • Assess childrens developmental progress using Teaching Strategies Gold.
    • Offer to share information about childrens development with parents through conferences twice per year.
    • Apply public education funding toward the cost of providing 10 hours per week of qualified prekindergarten education in lieu of parent paid tuition.

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    High Cost No Real Benefit

    Proposals to increase federal spending on early childhood education and care would add to Washingtons existing labyrinth of preschool programs. According to the Government Accountability Office, the federal government already operates 45 such programs today. Those programs are spread across multiple federal agencies and cost taxpayers more than $20 billion annually. Moreover, more than three-quarters of the nations four-year-olds are already enrolled in some form of preschool, raising questions about demand for new federal spending and programs.

    Policymakers at every level should exercise caution when considering expanding government preschool. The cost to taxpayers and lack of evidence of long-term impacts on children demand as much.

    Lindsey Burke is Will Skillman Fellow for Education and Brittany Corona is a Research Assistant in Domestic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

    News release, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to Join Sen. Harkin, Rep. Miller, Rep. Hanna and Actress Jennifer Garner to Unveil Bipartisan Proposal to Expand Access to High-Quality Early Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education, November 13, 2013, .

    Ibid.

    Alyson Klein, Obama Push to Boost Early Ed. Program Still Short on Details,Education Week, February 19, 2013, .

    Not Supported By The Evidence

    The legislative text of the HarkinMiller proposals notes that research has consistently demonstrated that investments in high-quality programs that serve infants and toddlers better positions those children for success in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education as well as helping children develop the critical physical, emotional, social, and cognitive skills that they will need for the rest of their lives.

    Yet in a December 2012 evaluation, the Department of Health and Human Services came to the exact opposite conclusion about the federal governments largest preschool program: Head Start. HHS released an evaluation of more than 5,000 children participating in Head Start and found that the $8 billion annual program had little to no impact on cognitive, social-emotional, health, or parenting practices of participants.

    In August 2013, Vanderbilt University released an evaluation demonstrating that children who went through Tennessees Voluntary Pre-K Program actually performed worse on cognitive tasks at the end of first grade than did the control group.

    Vanderbilt researchers found that by the end of the kindergarten year, gains that had accrued to participants had diminished, and by the end of first grade, there was only one statistically significant difference between the TN-VPK group and the control group out of eight measures:

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    The Program Is Better Than The Status Quo Experts Agree

    Taken together with the child care investments proposed in the bill, most experts agree that the Build Back Better bills goals are a boon for children and families and beneficial for society at large.

    Its important for folks to understand how inaccessible and inequitable the system is currently, Malik said. It is determined by a familys income right now. Current childcare dollars that do go to preschools and care for younger kids and Head Start combined really cant even serve 1/10th of the number of low-income kids who really need it.

    Over the decades, as the public has come to embrace the benefits of early childhood education, higher-income families have spent more money on private programs, only increasing opportunities gaps in education. Martin told Vox that universal pre-K would have big returns for state economies and is one of the best investments states can make for the countrys competitiveness, for childrens futures, and for parent choice.

    Once we get to the end of the six years we are going to get a lot closer to universality than we are now, and it will be really popular and remain a really high priority for legislators who have always shown a commitment to this issue in the abstract, Malik said. Well look back at this as a major turning point in early childhood education.

    Will you support Voxs explanatory journalism?

    Government Preschool Programs Harm Small Business Owners

    Government investment in preschool funding

    If the harms to children arent enough to stop the expansion of government preschool programs, then the harms to small business owners should be.

    In cities like Chicago where universal preschool programs have been introduced, private preschool and daycare providers, unable to compete with the free Chicago Public Schools option, are being pushed out of business. Many of these private business owners are women and people of color and when their companies close, community child care shortages worsen.

    Chicago Tribune

    For Jenna Colby, the impending threat of government preschool programs has prevented her from expanding her small Montessori preschool in rural Hillsborough, New Hampshire, despite a long waitlist of parents who wish to enroll their children. The lockdowns and related coronavirus policies in 2020 nearly destroyed her business, but now she cant keep up with parent demand for private options. Colby herself recently un-enrolled her seven-year-old daughter from her local district school for homeschooling due to frustrations over ongoing coronavirus policies and lack of academic rigor.

    Parents are eager to send their children to Colbys preschool, but her space constraints make it impossible for her to expand enrollment, which currently stands at 20 students ages 2.9 to 6 years old. Her preschool offers care five days a week from 7:00 am to 5:30 pm at a cost of $200 per week, with part-time options available.

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    Why Is It Good Policy

    Brain Science. Early childhood brain science shows that crucial intellectual, health, and social emotional development is happening long before age 5 the year we begin formal education in the United States. Numerous studies show that young children, from infancy onward, who experience early care and education programs that provide consistent, nurturing, and developmentally-appropriate opportunities for cognitive and social development benefit significantly in both the short and long-term. These benefits have positive impacts not only on children and families, but also the broader communities as well.

    Family Economics. Early care and education has become either an unmanageable expense or practically unavailable for many families. This lack of high-quality offerings can keep parents from pursuing the additional education or job training that could build their incomes, and it often means one parent opts out of the workforce entirely to provide care. Widely available early care and education can be a strong economic foundation for families and communities. Widely accessible high-quality pre-k can also help reduce racial inequity. The disparity in access to high-quality early education exacerbates racial inequities in childrens development. Not only does this limit the childs ability to achieve, it also limits parents ability to maximize their incomes by working, which further impacts a childs opportunity.

    Funding Agreement Acquittal And Audit

    Services must have accepted the Early Childhood Education Grants Programs Terms and Conditions:

    • 2020/2021 for term 1 and term 2 2021 payments
    • 2021/2022 for term 3 and term 4 2021 payments

    Acquittal of funds will be required following the completion of the 2021 calendar year for term 1 to 4 2021 payments.

    Funding compliance reviews associated with this program will be undertaken. Providers are required to keep relevant records in accordance with the funding agreement and make these available to the department or their authorised representatives as requested.

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    The Build Back Better Proposal Provides Money For Free Preschool For 3

    The Biden administrations $1.75 trillion social spending package would provide sweeping investments in early childhood educationcreating a partnership with states to offer free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds.

    The proposal requires buy in from states and would gradually shift 40% of the cost to those that participate. Early childhood education experts said the proposal has the potential to be the biggest investment in preschool since the foundation of the federal Head Start program more than 50 years ago.

    Pre-kindergarten education enrollment and the quality of education provided in preschool programs varies widely from state to state. Six states do not offer state-funded preschool programs and nationwide only about 34% of 4-year-olds and 6% of 3-year-olds are enrolled in state-funded programs, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research.

    What this legislation does is create the opportunity for many more states and cities to take this on much more quickly and to create a more level playing field, said W. Steven Barnett, senior codirector and founder of NIEER.

    Democrats in the House and Senate are still negotiating elements of Bidens Build Back Better proposal, and its possible portions of the plan could be altered or cut. But support for universal pre-K is high among both lawmakers and voters.

    Expanding Pre-K Access in States

    Most states have some type of pre-K but its not universal, its targeted, she said.

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