LAAEYC
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Sept, 2011
In this Issue:
State—T.E.A.C.H. Scholarship Program Receives Partial Restoration;
Request for Information Seeks Ideas and Input into CCIS Grant
Program
Federal-- NAEYC’s Call to Action Recommendations Introduced in
Two Bills to Amend the Elementary & Secondary Education Act;
Additional Legislation to Address Dropout Prevention through High-
Quality Early Childhood Education; Early Education in ESEA:
Continuum of Learning Act Introduced; Early Intervention for
Graduation Success Authorization Act of 2011
The Brain Deficit Poverty Creates--Data Show More Children Are
Growing Up Poor. Now What?; Increase in Hunger Means Increase in
Multiple Needs
STATE
T.E.A.C.H. Scholarship Program Receives Partial Restoration
A partial restoration of funds for the T.E.A.C.H. scholarship program, from PA
Department of Public Welfare (DPW) and the Office of Child Development and
Early Learning (OCDEL), has provided PACCA with supports for approximately
250 T.E.A.C.H. scholarships. Students with the fewest remaining credits toward
earning a degree and those expected to graduate this year will have their
scholarships renewed for the Fall 2011 semester only. Future funding for the
scholarship program remains uncertain at this time.
PACCA has notified all scholarship recipients and sponsoring employers by mail
regarding their status for the upcoming semester. Regretfully more than 1,200
recipients have lost their scholarships due to the funding cuts and 400 new
applicants will not have access to the scholarship program.
PACCA continues to work diligently to restore additional funds for the scholarship
program through public or private sources such as foundations, corporations and
private contributions. In the event funding becomes available, recipients who lost
their scholarship would receive first consideration.
For updates and advocacy alerts regarding the future of T.E.A.C.H., visit
www.pacca.org in the following weeks and months to come.
Request for Information Seeks Ideas and Input into CCIS Grant Program
On August 10, 2011, the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW),
Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) issued a Request for
Information (RFI) to seek ideas and input into the Child Care Information
Services (CCIS) grant program. Contracts with current CCIS grantees expire
June 30, 2012.
Comments must be received by September 16, 2011. Responses may be
submitted electronically or in writing to the following email account or address:
Email: RA-ocdelwebadmin@state.pa.us or CCIS RFI Response Office of Child
Development and Early Learning, 333 Market Street, 6th Floor, Harrisburg, PA
17126
There are currently 59 CCIS agencies operated by county government, non-
profits and one for-profit organization that contract with DPW/OCDEL to locally
administer the state's child care subsidy system (Child Care Works) and provide
resource and referral services for Pennsylvania families. CCIS agencies
determine family eligibility for subsidized child care, handle provider payments,
and manage child care wait lists. Additionally CCIS staff help parents locate
quality child care or early learning programs. In Lancaster County, CAP holds
the grant for CCIS.
To seek greater administrative savings and efficiencies in the program, DPW
intends to consolidate the CCIS grantees from 59 to 30 grantees. In addition,
DPW is considering capping CCIS director salaries and benefits, setting an
administrative rate at 8 percent and limiting indirect costs to 1.5 percent of
budget.
DPW is seeking comment on the reduction of number of CCIS agencies, the new
CCIS service areas, and other ideas related to the number of CCIS agencies
needed and ways to configure CCIS service areas. DPW is also seeking
feedback on ideas to streamline the CCIS system, ensure a smooth transition
should new CCIS service areas be implemented, as well as any challenges or
barriers to implementing their proposal.
The RFI is available at
http://www.emarketplace.state.pa.us/GeneralEdit.aspx?SID=DPW-RFI-OCDEL-
CCIS.
PACCA is working to develop a list of questions and comments regarding the RFI
and the restructuring of the CCIS system. Please feel free to share your
comments with us at diane.barber@pacca.org
FEDERAL
NAEYC’s Call to Action Recommendations Introduced in Two Bills to
Amend the Elementary & Secondary Education Act; Additional Legislation
to Address Dropout Prevention through High-Quality Early Childhood
Education
NAEYC is very pleased that Representative Mazie Hirono (HI), joined by Walter
Jones (NC), Don Young (AK), and Jared Polis (CO), recently introduced the
bipartisan bill, the Continuum of Learning Act of 2011 that tracks NAEYC’s
recommendations in their Call to Action for the reauthorization of the
Elementary & Secondary Education Act (also known as No Child Left Behind).
Last week, Senators Brown (OH) and Hagan (NC) introduced the Ready
Schools Act of 2011, which is incorporated in the more expansive House bill. To
read NAEYC’s Call to Action for the 112th Congress, click here.
Here are highlights of the Hirono/Jones/Young/Polis bill (H.R. 2794)
amending Title I and Title II of ESEA:
Have states review and revise their K–3 standards as needed to ensure
they cover all the areas of development and learning, including social and
emotional development, and approaches to learning as recommended by
the National Research Council;
Promote joint professional development between schools and community-
based early childhood education programs; allow Title II funds to be used
for scholarships tied to compensation rewards for teachers who earn an
Associate or Baccalaureate degree in early childhood;
Provide professional development for elementary school principals in child
development and learning, developmentally appropriate teaching practices
and collaborations with community early childhood setting;
Require states to create teaching certificates that reflect the specialized
knowledge and skills of teaching young children for those teaching in the
early grades and younger;
Prevent inappropriate high-stakes use of child assessment for grades 2
and below;
Help elementary schools evaluate their readiness to support all children’s
learning success in the early grades; and
Strengthen collaborations between community-based early childhood
programs and schools for more effective and supportive transitions for
young children.
Under the Ready Schools Act of 2011 (S. 1439), school districts would help
elementary schools undergo a “ready schools” needs review to support children’s
success particularly in the early grades by examining conditions such as the use
of developmentally appropriate curricula and teaching practices, support for
teachers to enhance their knowledge of child development and learning, strong
collaborations with families and community early childhood education providers,
and professional development for school principals.
NAEYC also was pleased to provide feedback to Senator Murkowski (AK) on her
bill which she just introduced, “Early Intervention for Graduation Success Act
of 2011” (S. 1495). The bill would allow the current dropout prevention program
in the Elementary & Secondary Education Act. The funds could be used for loan
forgiveness for teachers earning a degree in early childhood education; support
the state’s development of its quality rating and improvement system; aligning
learning standards from preschool through college; and expanding access to
early childhood education programs. States would be required to provide funds to
local partnerships of school districts and early childhood providers with high
percentages of children with risk factors associated with failure to graduate from
high school and to create or expand a database to identify and ensure services
for children at risk of dropping out of school.
Early Education in ESEA: Continuum of Learning Act Introduced
Representative Hirono (HI), along with Representatives Jones (NC), Young (AK),
and Polis (CO), introduced the bipartisan Continuum of Learning Act of 2011,
legislation that would strengthen the connections between early childhood
programs, local education agencies, and elementary schools by making changes
to Titles I and II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
While current law permits school districts to use ESEA funds for children from
birth through school-entry, there is currently little encouragement to use funds in
ways that increase the availability of high quality care. School districts also are
not required to provide information on how they use funds to support quality early
education. Among other provisions, the Act requires local educational agencies
to report for the first time on how Title I funds are being used for children prior to
school entry. This reporting change will ultimately give the local early childhood
community needed information to understand where the most vulnerable children
are being served, and to work with schools and school districts to combine
funding to increase the availability of high quality care.
The Act also encourages states to take a leadership role in promoting the use of
Title I dollars for early childhood programming, in coordination with the local early
childhood community. CLASP's research finds that this can be an effective way
of leveraging the financing needed to provide high quality full-day and year
opportunities for children before the age of school entry.
Early Intervention for Graduation Success Authorization Act of 2011
About a quarter of all public school students do not graduate on time and high
quality pre-k is one critical strategy to address this challenge. Senator Lisa
Murkowski (AK) has introduced a bill to Congress that would amend the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by including early childhood
education among our country's dropout prevention strategies.
You can Help Senator Murkowski pass the Early Intervention for
Graduation Success Authorization Act of 2011 by asking Senators
Toomey and Casey to sign on as co-sponsors.
The Early Intervention for Graduation Success Authorization Act recognizes
that the foundation for college and career readiness starts before kindergarten.
Studies show that children who attend high-quality pre-k programs are up to 29
percent more likely to graduate from high school than their peers who do not.
Pre-k is helping to turn around underperforming schools, improve student
outcomes and narrow achievement gaps.
Give your senators an opportunity to make a difference for kids by asking
them to sign on in support of the Early Intervention for Graduation
Success Authorization Act.
THE BRAIN DEFICIT POVERTY CREATES
Data Show More Children Are Growing Up Poor. Now What?
Stark increases in child poverty and other important indicators serve as colossal
warning signs that this country needs to think about how a generation of children
will be prepared to succeed in life.
Recently, the Annie E. Casey Foundation released its annual KIDS COUNT
study, a compilation of child well-being data. And the news isn't good. Despite
some positive trends since 2000-including decreasing infant mortality and child
and teen death rates, decreasing teen birth rates, fewer high-school drop-outs,
other indicators of child well being raise concerns about how the nation's young
children are faring. The report analyzed Census data that showed one in five
children under 18 lives in poverty. For children under age six, the poverty rate is
one in four. Coupled with increasing poverty, KIDS COUNT shows that the Great
Recession has had profound effects on the lives of our children:
11% of children-nearly 8 million children-live with at least one unemployed
parent.
31% of children live in families where no parent has full-time, year-round
employment
10% of children live in single-parent families, and
4% of children have been affected by the foreclosure crisis.
These are not benign data points. We know from research that children living in
poverty are less likely to be successful in school. And the longer a child lives in
poverty, the worse their adult outcomes, including employment and earnings.
Parental unemployment and single-parent composition are both related
household economic instability. It's clear that the recession took its greatest
toll on the most vulnerable-those without assets and wealth to fall back on when
they lost jobs or lost homes. The question now is what do we do with this data?
Will Congress make policy choices that support the unemployed, create jobs and
maintain a critical safety net for struggling families? Or will Congress choose to
deal with the deficit crisis by requiring the most vulnerable families to continue to
shoulder the burden of our economic situation and reduce critical supports for
low-income families.
If we do not make policy choices that change the current course, 20% of our
children will be ill-prepared for school, for careers and for life. That deficit crisis
will be more challenging to overcome than our current one.
Increase in Hunger Means Increase in Multiple Needs
"Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough
money to buy food that you or your family needed?"
About one in four households with children answered "yes" to that question last
year, according to a recent report from the Food Research and Action Center
(FRAC). In 21 states and the District of Columbia, more than 25% answered yes.
These statistics alone are a telling statement of the condition of our country and
help reveal just how many families are scraping by and can't meet their basic
needs. Food hardship has been a persistent problem for too many. It increased
during the Great Recession, and it is far from fading.
Fortunately, nutrition programs respond to increased need as is demonstrated by
a record spike in those receiving food assistance through the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps or SNAP). Department of Agriculture
data show that one in seven Americans receives SNAP benefits. In May 2011,
more than 45.7 million people received SNAP, up 12 percent in one year and up
an astonishing 62 percent increase since May 2008. Participation in other child
nutrition programs such as WIC, the Child and Adult Care Food Program
(CACFP) and the school lunch program also increased.
During hard times the country's safety net, including nutrition programs, becomes
a life line for children. It provides for those who otherwise would have to miss
meals or eat cheaper food lacking in proper nutrients. But programs such as food
assistance don't exist in a vacuum. State data suggest that the vast majority of
children who receive child care assistance also receive SNAP benefits. More
than half of Head Start families receive WIC benefits. All of these programs play
a critical role in children's development.
Across the country, Head Start and child care programs have provided meals for
low-income children who might otherwise not get enough to eat. For many
children, the recession meant a time of uncertainty while their parents lost jobs
and, in some cases, homes. Children who were lucky enough to retain their spot
in a Head Start or child care program benefited from consistency while other
aspects of their lives might have been in turmoil.
In other words, these programs co-exist. The recent debt ceiling agreement
offered some protections for the SNAP program as it should. But those of us who
advocate for children and low-income families believe that the whole child must
be addressed. Children need adequate nutrition to grow up healthy. They need
also health insurance and access to a medical home for sick visits and regular
check-ups. Their parents need child care assistance that allows them to go to
work and provide for their families while their children play and learn. All of these
things are interconnected.
The debt agreement means Congress will now have to make choices about deep
spending cuts. They will choose where to make the cuts among programs that
provide education, child care, nutrition assistance, housing assistance, and other
critical services. The cuts are not abstract. The choices Congress now has to
make will determine what service, or how many services, will be taken away from
the same child. They will choose whether a child will eat breakfast, or stay in
Head Start, or get to see a doctor. They can also choose to include
revenues in future agreements and ensure greater protections for low-
income children and their families. The future of our children will depend on
the choices made by Congress.