Early Education Clips for Week of December 1 – 5
Here’s a sampling of early childhood education in the news this week:
TOP STORY
More than 700 Organizations Tell Congress: Save Home Visiting The National Home Visiting Coalition sent a letter this week to Congressional leaders urging them to extend funding for the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program. The letter includes signatories from every state and four territories including national, state, local and tribal organizations as well as elected officials. Funding for MIECHV is set to expire in March 2015.
Read More:
Advocacy Groups Fighting to Maintain Funding for Home Visiting Programs – Education Week
OTHER NATIONAL NEWS
Accountability in Early Education The first years of a child’s life are critical to development however, federal education accountability policies don’t adequately measure early childhood education. Elliot Regenstein and Rio Romero-Jurado of the Ounce of Prevention Fund call for an accountability system that includes comprehensive and appropriate measurement of the quality of early learning programs. Read More at Education Week.
Child Care More Expensive Than College A new report from Child Care Aware finds that the average cost of child care is at least 25 percent of the median income for single parents. In 30 states, the yearly cost of child care is higher than tuition and fees at that state’s four year public colleges. Read More at CNN Money.
FROM THE STATES
INDIANA: Pre-K for Indianapolis Approved This week, the Indianapolis City Council passed Mayor Greg Ballard’s plan to establish a publicly-funded pre-K program for the city’s low income families. Read More.
COLORADO: New State Child Care Rating System Starts in January Early childhood educators and staff attended training for the new Colorado Shines Quality Rating and Improvement System, which takes effect at the beginning of 2015. Read More.
MISSISSIPPI: State Needs Serious Resources for Early Learning Columnist and former Jackson Public School Board member Lynn Evans says that Mississippi must take action and make a strong investment in early childhood education to improve the lives of the state’s children. Read More.
OREGON: Governor Proposes More Funding for Early Childhood Education and Care Governor John Kitzhaber’s budget proposal released this week would increase funding for the state’s early childhood education programs and would provide child care subsidies to more families. A final budget must be approved before July 1, 2015. Read More.
ALABAMA: State Business Leaders Call on Legislature to Expand Pre-K The Pre-K Task Force of the Alabama School Readiness Alliance will ask the state legislature to increase pre-kindergarten funding by $13.2 million, allowing the state to serve over 10,000 children. The group is made up of Alabama’s top business leaders. Read More.
NORTH DAKOTA: State Republicans Announce Support for Pre-K Funding Republican elected officials in North Daokta announced this week their support for a plan to provide funding for pre-K in the state. The proposal would create grants for families that would cover half the cost of pre-K for about 6,000 children. North Dakota is one of ten states without as state Pre-K program. Read More.