WASHINGTON, DC — Child Care Aware® of America endorses a recent report calling for an increased federal role in financing, quality assessment and professional development in early childhood education.
The report, “Transforming the Financing of Early Care and Education,” released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on Feb. 22, calls for making the complex and fragmented early childhood field into a unified, well-compensated, educated and accountable profession.
To achieve this, the report’s authors recommend full financing of high-quality early childhood education, at an annual cost of $140 billion, or .75 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). This is less than the current $163 billion annual contribution early childhood education makes to the economy, which is equal to 1.1 percent to GDP.
The greatest portion of that investment would go toward educating and compensating the early childhood workforce, as well as support for child care providers’ and early childhood educators’ accountability and improvement.
Child Care Aware® of America agrees with the report’s recommendation that additional federal financing should not be delivered to states in the form of block grants. Instead, our organization underlines the importance of the current federal-to-local funding model, with local decision-making power, in federally funded programs including Head Start.
A 2015 report by the National Academies said, “For too long, the nation has been making do with the systems and policies that are rather than envisioning the systems and policies that are needed, and committing to the strategies necessary to achieve them.”
Our hope at Child Care Aware® of America, and the hope of our colleagues on The National Power to the Profession Task Force, is that the latest report will be a first step in this long-overdue transformation.
Find a full copy of Transforming the Financing of Early Care and Education here.
Child Care Aware® of America is the nation’s leading advocate for quality, affordable childcare, Eleven million children younger than five are in some form of child care.
Child Care Aware® of America is a member of The National Power to the Profession Task Force, a group of organizations working to define the early childhood profession by establishing a unifying framework for career qualifications, standards, and compensation. The Task Force statement on the report is here.
# # #
About Child Care Aware® of America
Child Care Aware® of America is our nation’s leading voice for child care. CCAoA works with state and local Child Care Resource and Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) and other community partners to ensure that all families have access to quality, affordable child care. CCAoA leads projects that increase the quality and availability of child care, offer comprehensive training to child care professionals, undertake research, and advocate for child care policies that improve the lives of children and families. To learn more, visit usa.childcareaware.org. Follow them on Twitter @USAChildCare and on Facebook at facebook.com/usachildcare.