Recent State Policy Advances
Expanded investment. Restructured agencies. New caucuses, committees, and coalitions. Read about all the ways our allies on the front lines are making their state a better place for each and every child to reach their full potential.
State By State:
Let’s Celebrate! New Early Childhood Policies and Resources in Louisiana
Each New Year brings with it new beginnings, new opportunities, and for all of us in the early childhood community, renewed optimism for achieving something meaningful for young children. And, in Louisiana, there’s already cause for celebration. After two years of hard work by advocates, the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) announced major improvements in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), the publicly-funded program to help low-income families pay for child care while working or attending school or training. These improvements reduce child care costs for families while increasing and stabilizing revenues for child care providers. “The increase in funding and simplification of the application process greatly benefits families with parents that work or are in school that need help to afford quality child care,” said Louisiana State Superintendent John White. The plan, part of the statewide effort to unify the system of early childhood education, increases the subsidy available to parents to pay child care centers by up to 250 percent. Higher subsidies also increase revenues for child care providers, allowing centers to increase teacher pay and improve teacher training. The plan simplifies the application process and ends the longstanding practice of stopping child care assistance when a parent or guardian loses a job. Payments will continue through the entire year of eligibility, with the possibility to include additional months as well to enable children to complete the full school year. The Allocated Child Care Assistance Seats Pilot will contract for a set number of CCAP seats in selected child care centers each year, in addition to the current CCAP vouchers that allow parents to chose among eligible providers. These Allocated Seats should help centers plan for their expected enrollment, stabilize a portion of their funding, and position them to serve the most at-risk children in a quality setting. The pilot will include approximately 10% of the total number of CCAP seats statewide. The changes are good news for low income families and child care providers in Louisiana, since the improvements reduce out-of-pocket costs for families, stabilize revenues for providers, and recognize and support provider efforts to improve quality. The Louisiana Policy Institute for Children is proud to have been a part of the statewide efforts to enact these changes. We commend and thank Louisiana State Superintendent John White, Assistant Superintendent for Early Childhood Jenna Conway, and Deputy Director for Early Childhood Derek Little, for their leadership and resolution in bringing about these critical reforms. -Melanie BronfinExecutive DirectorLouisiana Policy Institute for Children (January 22, 2016)
Washington State invests record amount in early education
Earlier this summer, Washington state legislators voted to invest a record $158 million on early education policies during the recent 2015-17 biennial budget cycle, the most it has ever spent. The Early Start Act will infuse $158 million into early childhood programs that will benefit children, families, providers and diverse communities. The Early Start Act passed with strong bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate, and Governor Jay Inslee signed the Early Start Act into law in early July. Specifically, the Early Start Act: Provides unprecedented new training resources to early learning professionals; Prioritizes resources to children in low-income families and child care providers in low-income communities; Provides free coaching and supports to child care providers, with flexibility in type and amount of coaching based on individual need and cultural context. Establishes 12-month authorizations for child care subsidies, regardless of changes in family circumstance. Brings a greater focus than ever to ensuring that early learning quality improvements work for our diverse communities. Read more about the Early Start Act here. In addition, Washington State legislators included additional resources in the state budget for other early learning programs, including resources to continue to expand the state’s state preschool program. Preschool is set to become a state entitlement for all eligible children, according to existing law, for all income-qualified children by 2020-21. Education Secretary Arne Duncan saluted the progress in Washington, “High-quality preschool is incredibly important to giving kids a strong start in school and in life. I want to congratulate Gov. Jay Inslee, educators and other leaders in Washington state on the Early Start Act, which will improve early learning opportunities for over 48,000 children, building on the successes the state’s Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant. It’s a huge step toward a vision for a comprehensive early learning system that will make Washington a leader in doing the right thing for our youngest children.” Jon GouldDeputy Director Jennifer Jennings-ShafferEarly Learning Policy DirectorChildren’s Alliance (August 25, 2015)
Making Progress on Early Childhood Policy in Massachusetts
It was a cold and snowy winter for Massachusetts this year, but the spring thaw brought new resources for early care and education. The FY16 budget process got started on March 4 when newly elected Governor Charlie Baker filed his first budget. The House of Representatives and Senate followed with their recommendations in April and May with a conference committee releasing recommendations in June. Advocates were disappointed when Governor Baker vetoed $5 million from the Department of Early Education and Care’s budget and $17.5 million in funding for full-day kindergarten grants. However, the Legislature overrode these vetoes, thanks in part to grassroots advocacy that we here at Strategies for Children (SFC) helped to mobilize using our constituent email database and online advocacy tool. Constituents sent legislators thousands of emails, the highest number in the history of our advocacy efforts. The FY16 state budget resulted in a third consecutive year of increases for early education and care. These include: $12 million to serve children on the Income Eligible waiting list for early education and care subsidies, $5 million for a rate reserve to provide early educators in programs accepting state child care subsidies with increased funding for salaries, benefits, and professional development, and a new $500,000 line item to provide planning grants to communities seeking to expand high-quality preschool for 3-year-olds in alignment with the federal Preschool Expansion Grant. The 2015-16 legislative session is not yet over. An Act Ensuring High Quality Pre-Kindergarten Education (H.462, S.267), with lead sponsors Senator Sal DiDomenico and Representative Alice Peisch, would phase-in funding for high-quality Pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds in the mixed delivery system in high-needs communities. The bill is currently in the Joint Committee on Education with the legislative hearing scheduled for September 16. Strategies for Children has been active behind the scenes as well over the past year. When Governor Baker took office in January 2015, SFC’s Amy O’Leary was on his transition team, helping to ensure that early education was part of the larger education policy discussion. The team released a report in February and included early education among its list of proposals for early action. The current momentum in early education builds off of last year’s federal grant award. In December 2014, Massachusetts was awarded a $15 million federal Preschool Expansion Grant (PEG). This funding will provide high-quality programming for 4-year-olds in five Massachusetts communities – Boston, Holyoke, Springfield, Lawrence and Lowell. Lessons learned from PEG design, application process and initial implementation have helped to inform state legislative and budget proposals. This new funding provides an opportunity to rethink local models of pre-k delivery, and to demonstrate successful new methods to state policymakers. SFC was invited to join the advisory committee for the evaluation of the grant. Titus DosRemediosDirector of Research and PolicyStrategies for Children, Inc. (August 18, 2015)
Weathering the Storm in Kansas
While the climate surrounding children’s issues has been particularly difficult in Kansas, there were three key victories in the Sunflower State in 2015 for young kids and their families. A contentious budget debate driven by a nearly $800 million shortfall forced Kansas Action for Children to focus more on protecting Kansas kids from bad policies than enacting good ones, but we still celebrated a few noteworthy victories: Although we’re disheartened to report the Kansas Endowment for Youth (KEY) Fund nears depletion in 2017, we were greatly encouraged by the unanimous passage of a proviso to protect funding for children’s programs. Should payment from the tobacco settlement (the primary funding source for the KEY Fund) be less than expected, the state will backfill those dollars from the State General Fund. This was the only special fund to receive this type of protection. Early in the session, a legislative committee attempted to eliminate all funding from the Children’s Initiatives Fund for Kansas Parents as Teachers – more than $7 million each year. The decision was made without warning or a legislative hearing, but we quickly alerted partners and activated families across the state to oppose the effort. The committee reversed their decision after strong and swift pushback. Funding for Kansas Parents as Teachers was fully maintained. It was a significant victory in such a tight fiscal environment. Many of the state’s tax credits and exemptions were significantly reduced or eliminated in the final revenue package, but the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit survived the 2015 session fully intact. The state EITC has been a prime target of both the Governor and several high-ranking lawmakers for the last four years. Its full preservation amid the largest tax hike in Kansas history was a huge win for Kansas families. In 2013, 282,361 Kansas children benefitted from this tax credit, including many young children. Looking ahead, it’s more than likely programs and services for young Kansas children and their families will continue to stand on shaky ground. The state’s budget outlook is expected to remain gloomy, which means that increasing investments in programs serving the youngest Kansans doesn’t seem possible in the immediate future. However, for the first time this year, both the Governor and a growing number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle acknowledged further budget cuts will not serve Kansas families well. That’s why so much time in 2015 was devoted to finding new revenue rather than further reductions in spending. This is a major breakthrough in a debate that has—up to this point—been cemented in political ideology rather than sound policy. No matter how long it takes to get Kansas back on a more stable path, tough times do not weaken our resolve. We are more committed than ever to weathering this storm and doing all we can to ensure Kansas families and children can attain the health, education, and economic security they deserve. Shannon CotsoradisPresident and CEOKansas Action for Children & Voices for Children Foundation(July 30, 2015)
On A Path Toward Quality Early Learning and Development in Colorado
The 2015 session of the Colorado General Assembly saw Colorado continue on its path toward improving access to quality early learning and development programs for vulnerable children and families. Advocates, families, and children had several exciting victories to point to when the session concluded the first week in May. Policy victories included: Pay for Success: Colorado established a Pay for Success financing program (HB 15-1317). This new funding mechanism allows the state to leverage private and philanthropic dollars to fund social programs that only get repaid by the government if certain agreed upon outcomes are achieved. This bill opens the door to new investments in early childhood and prevention-oriented health services for vulnerable children and families. School Readiness Assessment: The legislature introduced 11 bills related to student assessments this year, some of which would have eliminated or weakened Colorado’s seven-year effort to implement school readiness assessments for all students entering kindergarten. The final bipartisan compromise bill (HB 15-1323) protected school readiness assessments and early literacy requirements and streamlined the system to be less burdensome to educators and programs. Licensing: A bill that would have eliminated all government regulations for all family child care homes in Colorado and some centers serving fewer than 10 children was defeated. Families and children would have lost the protections afforded by requiring criminal background checks, training requirements, sex offender registry requirements and child abuse and neglect record checks. The defeat of this bill (SB15-70) preserves the health and safety of children in these child care programs. There were also several increases in investments for early care and education in the state budget, including: An increase in funding for the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) to support the implementation of legislative reforms enacted in Colorado’s landmark HB 14-1317. This year’s budget includes increases to the child care subsidy program, ongoing funding for a child care “cliff effect” pilot program, funds to make necessary changes to the state data system to support the CCCAP reforms, and an additional $1.3 million for a 1.7 percent child care provider rate increase. These investments in Colorado’s child care subsidy program equate to a net 115% increase in state funding for child care over the past two legislative sessions. $338,200 to establish a new micro loan program designed to increase access to child care in rural and underserved areas. $250,000 to issue grants to improve the health, safety, and quality of family, friend and neighbor care and, ultimately, increase the supply of family child care in underserved communities. $750,000 to improve the coordination and provision of family support services, including those primarily offered through Colorado’s Family Resource Centers. $306 million increase in K-12 spending, including targeted resources for at-risk children. $1.2 million targeted to increasing access to immunizations through local public health offices and modifications to Colorado’s immunization information system that will help families and providers ensure children are up-to-date on their vaccinations. A $3.7 million investment in early intervention services to address rapidly growing caseload demands. Left on the committee room floor, however, were several bills that would have improved access to quality early childhood services. Bills that would have provided funding for universal access to full-day kindergarten, increased the number of Colorado Preschool Program slots, provided scholarships to early childhood educators all failed to make it to the Governor’s desk. These bills, despite most having bipartisan support, failed in Colorado’s increasingly strained fiscal environment. Our state’s “fiscal thicket” of constitutional provisions that constrain new investments will continue to challenge the early childhood system in the coming year. Though the state has shown consistent economic growth, certain provisions in the state constitution have put financial restraints on the state’s budget which can make it difficult, absent policy change, to increase funding for existing successful programs or to fund new initiatives. These challenges will require the ongoing work and attention of advocates to find a path forward that can provide the budget flexibility needed to address the needs of Colorado’s children and families. Colorado’s early childhood advocates look forward to building on the momentum of this past session and remain dedicated to collaboratively seeking out policy solutions that will help support the healthy, safety, and well-being of Colorado children and families. Bill JaegerVice President, Early Childhood InitiativesColorado Children’s Campaign Lauren HeintzPolicy Specialist, Clayton Early Learning(July 27, 2015)
Nebraska Policymakers Again Recognize Importance of Children’s Earliest Years
Balancing a wide variety of public interests and with great bipartisan support, the Nebraska Legislature again recognized the critical importance of children’s early years prior to adjourning Sine Die on May 29. Of preeminent importance to First Five Nebraska is public policy that recognizes the development of the brain in the early years literally shapes the learning capacity for the rest of a child’s life. We know that by the time children arrive at their first day of kindergarten, the nature and quality of their earliest learning experiences have already done much to determine their degree of linguistic competence, ability to interact with others and healthy curiosity about the world around them. Here’s a look at First Five Nebraska’s highest priority bills from the 2015 legislative session. LB547 uses child care providers to close the achievement gap in the early years by allowing them to partner with school districts to receive Sixpence Early Learning Fund grants. Sixpence grants are a new funding source for child care providers, who are supported and rewarded for improving the quality of environments they offer children in their care by participating in Nebraska’s Step Up to Quality accountability system. LB547 passed with strong support from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Nebraska Early Childhood Business Roundtable, and other partners committed to building Nebraska’s future workforce and ensuring the strongest return on public investments. LB656, the state’s mainline budget bill, includes stable funding for high-quality early childhood investments in the Sixpence Early Learning Fund and the Nebraska Department of Education preschool grant program. Previously, $1 million in funding for the Sixpence Early Learning Fund and $1.95 million in funding for the NDE preschool grant program was scheduled to sunset July 1, 2016. Those amounts will now be funded annually by state general funds, rather than with lottery appropriations that would have expired again in five years. LB525 clarifies that all early childhood providers can participate in the Nebraska Early Childhood Professional Record System, and makes it easier for school districts serving large concentrations of children in poverty to receive education aid for students served in early childhood education programs. LB81 eliminates the child care cliff effect by allowing families who receive child care assistance to move up in the workplace through small pay increases and promotions without losing their ability to afford child care. It allows families a 24-month window to accept small pay raises while working their way off assistance. Other early childhood-related bills will be addressed when the second session of the biennium Legislature convenes next year, including: LB322, which increases the amount of child care and dependent care tax credits for low income families, allowing parents greater opportunity to choose quality child care settings that provide stimulating experiences for their young learners. LB443, which redefines ‘support services’ to include mental health services offered either at school or elsewhere, helping children succeed in school by addressing certain challenging behaviors and ensuring positive behavioral support. LB557, the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act in Child Care, which broadens the definition of ‘place of employment’ to include private residences if the residence is licensed to provide child care, and motor vehicles used to transport children for a licensed day care provider. LB645, which creates a nonrefundable tax credit for contributions to a nationally licensed organization that provides early childhood education and retention incentives for early childhood professionals. Please visit our website’s Legislation page for a comprehensive list of all early childhood bills introduced this year. Jen GoettemoellerSenior Policy AssociateFirst Five Nebraska(July 15, 2015)
Oregon’s young children won a major victory last week
On the last day of the 2015 Oregon legislative session, the Oregon Senate approved a bill that will make high-quality preschool available for more children from low-income families in the state. That vote marked the final approval of the Children’s Institute’s entire legislative agenda for improving early learning in Oregon. The Legislature’s approval of the preschool legislation will give 1,350 more Oregon 3- and 4-year-olds the opportunity to access the quality preschools that can get them ready for kindergarten and for long-lasting school success. The new legislation, supported by the Children’s Institute and a broad coalition of more than 30 Oregon organizations, will provide a blueprint that allows for a mix of providers – school districts, Head Start programs and community preschools – to receive state funding to offer high-quality preschool programs. Both houses of the Legislature this session also approved two other important initiatives that the Children’s Institute and a coalition of groups supported: an expansion of home visiting services for at-risk families and expansion of the Kindergarten Partnership and Innovation Fund, which provides grants that connect early learning to the early grades. All of the legislation now moves on to Gov. Kate Brown – a staunch supporter for early learning investments in Oregon – for her signature. “We know investments early in children’s lives continue to pay dividends for them and their families as they grow,” Brown said. “Oregon’s future is brighter when all Oregon families thrive.” The Legislature made a number of important investments in early learning during the session. Here’s a summary of the new investments: a $27 million investment that will make high-quality preschool available for more children from low-income families in the state. The investment means 1,350 more Oregon 3- and 4-year-olds will be able to access quality preschools that can get them ready for kindergarten and long-term school success. $47.3 million to expand access to subsidized child care and support improved quality $4 million for the state’s early intervention/early childhood special education program $9.5 investment to expand voluntary home visiting services for families, to ensure more at-risk infants and toddlers receive support during their critical early years of brain development. $5 million additional investment to expand a fund that provides grants that connect early learning to the early grades. The grants are focused on important early learning strategies like family engagement and kindergarten transition programs. $10.3 million above the 2013-2015 appropriation for the state’s Early Learning Hubs $1.7 million for a school attendance pilot project to work with schools serving large populations of Native American students in order to decrease chronic absenteeism $3 million to develop an education plan for children of color who are economically disadvantaged and experience a significant achievement gap $1.2 million for Relief Nurseries in the state Additional dollars to support the roll-out of full-day kindergarten across the state Swati Adarkar, President and CEO of the Children’s Institute, credited the success of the early learning initiatives in large part to the commitment and passion of many Oregon state leaders, including Gov. Brown, Rep. Betty Komp, the primary sponsor of the preschool bill, Sen. Rod Monroe, a stalwart supporter of early learning, Rep. Tina Kotek, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Sen. Richard Devlin and Rep. Peter Buckley, co-chairs of the Legislature’s Joint Ways and Means Committee. She also credited the success to the coalition of business, children and family advocacy groups that were steadfast in their commitment to improving the lives of Oregon’s youngest learners. “Oregon really took a step forward this legislative session to expand early learning opportunities for children in our state,” she said. “That step forward happened because of the vision of our state leaders, and the passionate advocacy of a large group of Oregonians who know that investing in early learning changes lives and futures.” Todd MurphyDirector of CommunicationsChildren’s Institute(July 12, 2015) A version of this blog appeared on the Children’s Institute’s website on July 6.
Celebrating Increases in Early Childhood Investments in Michigan
Things are looking brighter for early childhood investments in Michigan in FY2016. Early in June, the Michigan state legislature passed–and Governor Snyder signed into law–the FY16 budget. Despite budget pressures created by the failure of Proposal 1 – a ballot initiative to support a new road tax in early May – lawmakers and the governor affirmed their commitment to wise early childhood investments in a number of ways. Specifically, the FY16 budget: Allows more low-income families to keep the child care subsidy when their income increases, so that higher salaries do not create a barrier to accessing the child care they need; Increases payments for child care subsidies to those providers delivery higher quality care; Provides for hiring additional child care consultants to monitor and license child care facilities (The Legislature went even further than the governor’s recommended increase for these consultants); Implements a parent education pilot for families and children under age 4; Expands home visiting programs to at-risk families to encourage early literacy activities; and Continues funding for the kindergarten entry assessment, which would otherwise have sunseted. The legislature fully supported Gov. Snyder’s commitment to improving third-grade reading proficiency through these and other early literacy initiatives for children in kindergarten through third grade. The governor’s Third Grade Reading Workgroup recently released its report which largely focuses on K-3, but has one strategy dedicated to Early Childhood (#3). It also endorses home visiting and other early interventions to strengthen parent-child relationships. The early literacy initiative represents $31.5 million (mostly from the School Aid Fund) in new investments. The child care initiatives add another $13.7 million (all federal money). These investments cover children from birth to age 5 and into grades K-3. Please see our earlier analysis of early childhood proposals here: http://bridgemi.com/2015/03/putting-a-value-on-young-minds/ . Peter Pratt, PresidentPublic Sector Consultants John Bebow, President and CEOCenter for Michigan(July 6, 2015)
A Much Needed Conversation about Child Care
Last week, Michigan’s Children partnered with the Early Childhood Investment Corporation and several other state advocacy partners to organize opportunities to strategize action around some very important services that touch the lives of families with babies and toddlers. With national assistance from Zero to the Three, The Ounce of Prevention Fund, and the IDEA Infant Toddler Coordinators Association (IDEA ITCA), the sessions focused on the current landscape of the home visiting, child care, and Early Onsystems in Michigan, and engaged attendees in identifying necessary steps toward improvement. Today, I’m going to talk a bit more about the session focusing on child care and some of what that means for Michigan’s Children’s work in the coming months. First and foremost, a state-level conversation about how to improve the child care system in Michigan hadn’t taken place in years, which is evidenced by the significant challenges faced by that system; and participants, including Michigan’s Children, have felt that the discussion was long overdue. A significant part of the conversation included reframing child care from a welfare and low-wage workforce support to an early education priority. The Governor’s third grade reading proposal included child care improvements, reflecting this shift within the administration that many view as a victory for child care, but the connections are not often recognized by other policymakers. At Michigan’s Children we believe that child care is an essential part of two-generation strategies to help children thrive while their parents can get ahead in life; and that talking about child care from an education perspective – knowing that decades of research tells us that children’s success is strongly connected to their parents’ success – is critical. To take it one step further, this also means that we need to be supporting parents’ education. This means allowing parents to access child care assistance while in adult education programs (think, family literacy), as well as allowing adult education to be an allowable activity for families to receive cash assistance. But I digress. Another key piece of any discussion to improve child care in Michigan is the need to restructure the child care subsidy system to better match market demands. This would mean a shift from the current hourly reimbursement rates, which have not enabled consistent care, to part-time or full-time payment rates. If we want to get serious about child care being an education program, then we must support what research consistently shows us impacts child outcomes in child care – quality interactions between the teacher and child which is dependent on continuous, consistent, quality care. This type of care is not sustainable with an hourly payment structure – we can’t keep paying child care subsidies like we would a babysitter, but rather pay for it the same way we pay for preschool and k-12 education. Fortunately, the Governor’s FY2016 budget includes some improvements to the child care system that will support what the research shows us. And fortunately three of the four recommendations were already approved by the Legislature via supplemental budget to begin implementation in the current fiscal year. His proposals include: Funding to allow families to access 12-months of continuous child care subsidy that supports the research showing that consistent care matters for children and families and essential for child care providers trying to maintain their businesses. Additional tiered reimbursement acknowledging that higher quality child care is more costly. Allowing families to maintain their subsidies as they begin to earn a little bit more money to not have to suddenly shoulder expensive child care costs on their path to economic stability. Funding to hire additional licensing consultants to ensure that child care programs are maintaining basic health and safety standards. This is the only recommendation that was not included in the supplemental and must be included in the FY2016 budget. To learn more about the Governor’s budget recommendations including the third grade reading details and child care, read our Budget Basics. And stay tuned for a future blog on the Early On session. -Mina HongSenior Policy Associate, Michigan’s Children (April 7, 2015) This blog was originally posted on the Michigan’s Children website.
