President Obama Proposes Increased Funding for Early Education

The bad news is: Schwarzenegger is proposing cuts…

On February 2nd, President Obama released his budget proposal for the fiscal year that runs October 1, 2010, through September 30, 2011. While the budget request largely freezes domestic discretionary funding for the next three years, it does include funding increases for some early education programs and services, including:

• In the President’s proposal, the 1.84% temporary COLA that was part of Obama’s economic stimulus last year would become permanent.
• An increase of $800 million (and an additional $11 billion over ten years) in mandatory Child Care and Development Funds to allow states to provide child care subsidies to additional working families.
• In addition, another increase of $800 million is proposed to provide quality improvements through the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). Total funding for CCDBG under this proposal would equal $2.927 billion, $137 million of which is targeted for improving the quality of infant-toddler care.
• $8.224 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start, an increase of $989 million over the current year’s funding. The proposed increase is expected to continue providing services to the 64,000 additional children and families served through the Federal Stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act).
• $440 million for Part C Early Intervention Services for infants and toddlers, the same as the current year’s funding.
• $625 million in mandatory funding for the President’s proposed Early Learning Challenge Fund (ELCF), which passed the House in September and is awaiting action in the Senate. Funding will be automatically allocated and not subject to the annual appropriations process.
• A near doubling of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, which helps working parents afford the costs of child care.
• $210 million for Promise Neighborhoods, modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, which supports comprehensive programs that address the needs of children and youth in a targeted area from before the time they are born to their attendance in college.

All of these proposals, if approved by Congress, would increase support for families with young children during difficult economic times.

So that’s the good news.The bad news is: Schwarzenegger is proposing cuts…
The Governor released his budget proposal on January 8th. His plan cuts funding for early education assistance for needy families. In addition, he’s proposed a $5.9 million cut to child care funding. He also wants to cut the number of families eligible to receive child care vouchers. Finally, if California doesn’t receive $6.9 billion from the federal government by July 15, he proposes reducing First 5 funding by 50% and using all reserve funds for other state spending needs, eliminating CalWORKs, and eliminating Healthy Families.