Early Learning Action Alliance

2011 FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

The members of the Early Learning Action Alliance are united by the belief that all children in Washington State deserve the opportunities and support they need in their first five years of life to be prepared for school and a bright future.

Protect and Prioritize Critical Early Learning Investments
Building our human capital—America’s greatest and most abundant natural resource— by investing in early education through Head Start, Early Head Start, and the Child Care Development Block Grantis a fiscally responsible way to reduce deficits and generate short-term gains for families and taxpayers. Congress should:

Prioritize funding for key early learning programs in the 2012 federal budget, namely the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Head Start, and Early Head Start

Continue to invest in the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge, with its smart focus on bolstering the quality of early learning programs

Continue to invest in Home Visiting programs, which provide support to new parents

Impact on Washington State

Washington State benefits when kids get off to the right start.

Currently over 12,000 kids are in Early Head Start or Head Start in Washington. Cuts to these discretionary programs would set our state back in our progress to chance cycles of inequity by giving children the opportunities to succeed

Over 30,000 families in our state benefit from child care assistance that helps them provide stable care for children while parents are working

Over 180,000 families benefit from the quality and infant/toddler set-asides in the Child Care Development Block Grant, which help boost quality in our state’s child care system

Between 2%-11% of eligible families are served in Home Visiting programs across the state

Washington State could receive up to $60 million over 4 years with a successful Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge Grant. With these funds, we can invest in improving the quality of early learning in order to ensure positive child outcomes

Include Early Learning in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization (ESEA)

Update the ESEA to reflect the indisputable evidence that the early years of children’s education—those from pre-kindergarten through third grade—establish essential skills and behaviors that support college- and career-readiness. The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides a unique opportunity to transform American education.

Impact on WashingtonState
Changes to ESEA could increase professional development opportunities in early learning, increase funding for schools to increase alignment between early learning and K-12, and help promote an aligned data system between early learning and K-12.Washington currently has 8 school districts with Early LearningLeadership Grants through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that are working towards greater P-3rdcontinuity for kids.If ESEA is authorized with early learning included, it could enhance and expand these important efforts.

The Early Learning Action Alliance is convened by the Children’s Alliance.

Learn more by contacting Leslie Dozono at (206) 324.0340 x20 or

8/23/2011