Home Page for CSRA EOA Inc., Head Start - Located in Augusta, GA, Head Start provides professional comprehensive quality services to preschool children, families, staff and communities. 12,138 Head Start Jobs available on Indeed.com. An Expensive and Unnecessary Middle- Class Subsidy. March 2, 2. 01. 0 . The federal government already provides. A federal program that creates incentives for. As a result, American families' preschool. A new federal program to increase access to. Abstract: Federal spending on early childhood education and care exceeds $2. President Obama and other proponents of taxpayer- funded universal preschool want to add $1. Why is this a bad idea? Because the majority of America's young children already attend preschool - - and a new federal program that provides financial incentives for states to expand preschool would become an expensive and unnecessary taxpayer subsidy for middle- class and upper- income children. Recognition of the importance of preschool programs is growing, and so is the availability of early childhood education funding. Start your grant search here with our big link list. Head Start of Rockland is a leading provider of comprehensive and nationally accredited preschool and early childhood education and preschool special education services for low income children and their families in Rockland. Hall County Head Start offers free preschool for income eligible three and four year old children to prepare them for Kindergarten and school success. We also offer a program for pregnant women, infants, and toddlers. Early Head Start/Head Start. Coordinator: Angie Moon de Avila, (706) 357-5239, ext. 20420 Mission: To advance children's development and school readiness, family self-reliance, and program excellence.through education. Heritage Foundation education policy expert Lindsey Burke explains why more government control and spending will not help America's children. President Barack Obama wants to dramatically increase federal spending on early childhood education and care, which includes creating incentives for states to implement universal preschool. The President's fiscal year (FY) 2. Early Learning Challenge Fund grant program, which has been included in higher education legislation (the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act - - SAFRA) passed by the House, and currently under consideration in the Senate. The Early Learning Challenge Fund provides grants to states to expand their early education programs. If implemented, this program would greatly increase the federal government's role in preschools around the country. In addition to SAFRA, several other pending bills would significantly increase the federal government's role in early childhood education. In the House, the Providing Resources Early for Kids Act (PRE- K Act) and the Prepare All Kids Act, would provide federal grants to states to expand state preschool programs. In October 2. 00. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D- DC) introduced H. R. 3. 78. 2, the Universal Prekindergarten and Early Childhood Education Act of 2. The ultimate goal of the myriad early education bills is to guarantee access to publicly subsidized preschool for all families. Universal preschool provides taxpayer- subsidized preschool to all children free of charge regardless of parents' income. Proponents argue that universal preschool is necessary to ensure that all children are able to attend preschool. But statistics show that most American children already have access to preschool: More than 8. More than three- quarters of children are already enrolled in some form of preschool program. Private providers, who make up a substantial portion of the preschool market, are in danger of being crowded out by a large . Families seem to prefer caring for their children at home in their early years. Strong majorities of mothers indicate that they prefer to stay home when their children are young (up to age four); 8. Of all mothers, only 1. The federal government and the states have created and expanded various programs to provide access to government- subsidized preschool to millions of children. Federal Subsidies for Preschool. The federal government currently provides significant funding for early childhood education through dozens of programs administered by multiple agencies; funding for these initiatives is set to increase under recent legislation. According to the Government Accountability Office, there are 6. In 2. 00. 9, Head Start received $9. Since its inception in 1. Head Start has cost taxpayers more than $1. But despite the significant amount of taxpayer dollars that have been expended on Head Start, a recently released evaluation of the program by the Department of Health and Human Services found zero lasting benefits for children. Along with these growing federal subsidies, state government spending on preschool has also risen substantially in recent years. Total state spending on early education reached $5. While 1. 2 states spend no money on early childhood education programs, other states, such as New Jersey, which spent nearly $1. However, a look at present preschool enrollment across the country calls into question the need for an increased federal role in early education, and ultimately, the need for universal preschool. Enrollment in Preschool and Child Care. Do American children need a new federal preschool program? A review of available evidence suggests that a majority of American families already have access to preschool or child care coverage for their children. Preschool enrollment of three- year- old and four- year- old children rose from 9. According to a survey of early education and child care arrangements by the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2. Head Start), 1. 3 percent had home- based or relative care, 8 percent had non- relative home- based care, and 2 percent had multiple arrangements. Eighty- nine percent of children of full- time working mothers had regular early education or care arrangements in 2. While federal and state benefits for preschool are considerable, a majority of American children enrolled in preschool and day care programs are currently served by private providers. The vast majority (8. For preschool enrollment exclusively in center- based care arrangements, an estimated 2. In 2. 00. 5, more than 1. Of these 1. 1 million, 3. While private programs, faith- based providers, state- funded programs, and at- home care encompass much of the preschool market, the federal Head Start program is available to families who are unable to pay for care themselves, and currently serves nearly 1 million preschool- aged children nationally. The federal Head Start program began as a modest summer program in 1. Since its inception, Head Start has cost taxpayers more than $1. Increased calls for universal preschool from advocacy groups, Members of Congress, and the President imply that the current network of early education options fails to meet the needs of children. However, with more than 8. Labor force participation rates for married mothers whose youngest child is preschool age show that nearly 4. Moreover, a 2. 00. Pew Research Center found a significant increase during roughly the same time period in the number of mothers of children four or younger who prefer part- time work or not to work at all. Between 1. 99. 7 and 2. The Pew study also indicated that mothers who work full time gave themselves lower marks for their parenting than mothers who stay at home or work only part time. This phenomenon strongly suggests a parental preference for more time with young children, not for additional options for outside care or education. These changes to the American preschool system would increase costs for taxpayers by encouraging more participation in public programs, undermining private providers, and thereby reducing American families' preschool choices. Distorting the Early Education Market with . One potential problem created by universal preschool is that the government- funded preschools would undercut the private market by giving families subsidized or . The more generous a taxpayer- funded preschool program becomes, the more difficult it will be for private preschools to compete. This will likely lead to a substantial crowd- out of private providers - - which was the case with the introduction of highly subsidized child care in Quebec, Canada. The Quebec Experience. American preschool and child care programs allow for a comparison to the Canadian experience with state- funded day care. Between 1. 99. 7 and 2. Canadian province of Quebec introduced universally subsidized child care available at a rate of $5 per day for parents, regardless of income. Along with the introduction of full- day kindergarten for all five- year- old children in 1. Quebec passed a provision for $5 per day child care for all four- year- old children. By 2. 00. 0, that entitlement had extended to all children up to age five. While there was an increase of about 1. Furthermore, many parents who had previously left their children in the care of family members or friends opted for subsidized child care after the policy was implemented. The researchers note, . The Quebec Family Policy provided little additional help to low- income families - - they were already being subsidized - - but provided help to middle- income and upper- income families. But researchers found that . The findings show that, in absolute terms, . Today, the Quebec program costs $2 billion annually - - an 8. The experience in Quebec with highly subsidized day care suggests that large government subsidies serve to undercut the private sector while limiting parental choice. While competition with . In this respect, a new federal program would likely undermine the autonomy of private preschools. Since the subsidized government program would offer families a free alternative to purchasing private preschool for their children, many private providers would have no choice but to participate in the government program or go out of business. But participation will come with significant strings, such as new licensing and teacher certification requirements, aligned curricula, state standards, and potential restrictions on faith- based organizations. The following is an overview of the types of regulations likely to be included in a new federal preschool program. Licensing and Certification Requirements. A regulatory focus of current legislative proposals in Congress is on increasing licensing and certification requirements for early childhood education providers. The PRE- K Act, for instance, would require preschool instructors to hold a bachelor's degree with certification in early childhood education. Such licensing and certification requirements could put an unnecessary strain on participating private early education providers, and the difficulty of returning to school to obtain a bachelor's degree or early childhood certification may be prohibitive for many. There is also questionable value in requiring such time- consuming and expensive credentialing.
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