Improving Public Financing for Early Learning Programs

"Increased public investment in early learning is a pro-growth strategy not inconsistent with greater fiscal restraint." "Improving Public Financing for Early Learning Programs," National Institute for Early Education Research

The care and education of young children in the United States is supported by nearly
$40 billion yearly from a variety of sources at the federal, state, and local levels. Even
so, about a quarter of 4-year-olds and half of 3-year-olds do not attend preschool, and
many of those who do attend receive only poor quality services. Some programs are
of such low quality that they actually harm child development. The nation’s children
would greatly benefit from additional public funding for preschool programs.

It also
matters how this funding is provided. How we fund early care and education varies
greatly from program to program, across states, and across levels of government.
Most funding sources exist independent of one another, in different departmental
jurisdictions and local, state, and federal governments each have their own
funding approaches.

For these and other reasons,
the various streams of public funding are not
easily harmonized into a coordinated
system for financing early learning
programs. This brief reviews sources
and models of public financing of
early care and education and makes
recommendations for improving upon
what currently exists so as to remove
barriers to increasing program access
and quality.

by W. Steven Barnett and Jason T. Hustedt

Full Story: http://nieer.org/resources/policybriefs/24.pdf