The Alliance for Early Success is a 50-state resource for early-childhood advocates as they pursue the big, sustained impact that will ensure every child in every state, birth through age eight, has an equal chance to grow, learn, and succeed.
Alliance responsive support provider Children’s Funding Project is helping advocates across the country win dedicated streams of public financing to support young children. Establishing dedicated funding for ECE can be an effective way to ensure these programs don’t get left out during the budget process.
In recent years, a growing number of states have moved towards unified ECE governance to help administer the variety of programs states are responsible for, including child care subsidies, child care licensing, state-funded pre-K, IDEA Part B and Part C, child care quality improvement systems, and Head Start state collaboration offices. While these states pursue consolidation to add efficiency, others pursue are trying alternate strategies to reach the same goals.
In an effort to extend the reach of publicly funded pre-k programs, policymakers and advocates are turning toward a strategy of increasing pre-K enrollment spots beyond school and center-based classrooms, such as in family child care homes. A new national initiative aims to help family child care providers in Alabama, Michigan, Nevada, and North Carolina integrate into publicly funded pre-k programs.
State allies in the Alliance for Early Success network recently gathered to discuss the challenges the family child care workforce is facing. The group focused on two growing challenges: the rising cost of liability insurance and the availability of coverage. Allies were joined by NAEYC who shared findings based on recent surveys conducted with child care providers.
While a mixed delivery system of pre-K has many advantages, it can present significant challenges for students with disabilities when it comes to accessing early childhood special education (ECSE) services, such as those provided by occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists. So across the country, states are looking to improve collaboration between school districts and community partners.
While Kentucky was the first state to make child care staff automatically eligible for subsidies, about a dozen states have followed the lead of the Bluegrass State and either implemented a similar policy or are actively considering it. It is estimated that about 234,300 child care workers with children under the age of six and 294,000 children would benefit from the Kentucky model if all 50 states plus D.C. implemented a similar policy.
Family child care providers typically must navigate an incoherent and often conflicting set of regulations, as well as frequent opposition from landlords, homeowners associations, and condo associations. The good news is that states across the political spectrum are beginning to take action to address these difficulties.
While a significant number of pregnancy-related deaths happen 6-12 months after the end of pregnancy, the federal government only mandates that Medicaid coverage extend for 60 days after the end of the pregnancy. In response to this deadly gap in coverage, advocates are working with policymakers—Democrat and Republican, urban and rural—to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage in their states. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have recently passed coverage extensions.
Advocates in several states fought for and won policy changes that demonstrate the bold and inspirational thinking that can advance a state more toward a more diverse, effective, prepared, and well-compensated early childhood workforce.
