In September, the U.S. House of Representative passed H.R. 3221,
the "Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009" (SAFRA). It
includes an $8 billion Early Learning Challenge Fund (ELCF), which
provides grants to states to reform and increase their early
education and care programs. If enacted, SAFRA would significantly
increase the federal government's role in preschool education.
The ELCF is problematic on two fronts: (1) It grows the federal
role in education, and (2) it represents a considerable increase in
spending on early childhood education while creating an unnecessary
subsidy for early education and care.
Increased Federal Role in Early
The Pathway Grants created in the ELCF provide funding to states
on a competitive basis to increase the quality of preschool
programs and the number of disadvantaged children in those
programs. These grants encourage growth in government preschool
programs by giving priority to states that "dedicate a significant
increase, in comparison to recent fiscal years" of their
expenditures on early learning programs.
In order to be eligible for Pathway Grants, states must
establish early learning and development standards that are aligned
with K-3 academic content standards. States must also establish
program rating systems that demonstrate, for example, program
quality, staff qualifications, and professional development. States
are required to delineate how they will encourage all early
education programs, including family providers, to participate in
the rating system.
States must also demonstrate how they will increase the number
of certified early education teachers while implementing the level
of salary commensurate with such credentialing. However, the bill
explicitly prohibits the use of Pathway Grants for merit pay.
Furthermore, the ELCF requires the Secretary of Education to
provide an annual report to Congress on state efforts to increase
"high-quality" preschool programs. States must report to the
Secretary annually the number of disadvantaged children enrolled,
the number of providers taking part in the state rating system, and
the early childhood education credentials of providers receiving
Although states are required to match federal funds appropriated
through the ELCF, the bill includes a financial hardship waiver
that allows the Secretary to waive the match if a state
demonstrates financial difficulties. According to the National
Association of State Budget Officers, at least 35 states face
budget deficits in 2010. It is likely that a majority of states
could seek a waiver of the federal match requirement.
The increased role for the federal government in early childhood
education created through SAFRA could limit choices for families.
While SAFRA does allow for public-private partnerships, private
providers may be hesitant to participate in the ELCF because of the
additional regulatory burdens that would be placed on them. This
leaves private providers in the difficult position of either
incorporating the new federal regulations in order to receive
funding or competing with growing state-subsidized programs, which
could eventually lead to a "crowding out" of the private provision
of care. The result of this increased federal role could be a
reduction in the number of private providers, ultimately limiting
choices for families.
Increased Federal Spending and
Unnecessary Early Education Subsidies
SAFRA authorizes $1 billion annually from 2010 through 2019 for
the ELCF. However, federal spending is already at an all-time high
for such programs. State spending on public preschool programs
reached $4.6 billion in 2008, a considerable increase over the $3.7
billion spent in 2007. When all sources of funding are included,
spending on state preschool programs reached $5.2 billion in
2008--a 23 percent increase over 2007 spending.
According to the Government Accountability Office, there were 69
programs administered by 10 federal agencies supporting education
or childcare for children under the age of five in 2005. A
conservative estimate of federal spending on early education and
care programs exceeds $25 billion in 2009.
Proponents argue that families will not have access to early
childhood education without more government subsidies. However, the
evidence shows otherwise. More than 80 percent of four-year-old
children are already enrolled in some form of preschool program,
many of which are served by private providers. In fact, enrollment
of three- and four-year-old children in school has increased from
around 9 percent in 1964 to over 55 percent by 2007--an increase of
more than 180 percent. For families that cannot afford private
preschool or who live in states without public programs, the
federal Head Start program operates in every state to serve
Creation of the ELCF in the SAFRA is based on the assumption
that taxpayers should pay to enhance state preschool programs and
expand enrollment in subsidized early education and care. However,
there is little demand for an increase in state preschool programs.
Pouring billions of additional federal dollars into state preschool
programs when spending on early education and care is at an
all-time high will increase costs for taxpayers and produce minimal
benefits for families.
A Better Approach
President Obama has pledged to pump "billions of dollars into
early childhood education." The $8 billion preschool
provision in the SAFRA puts the President well on his way to making
good on that promise. However, it is not clear that driving more
taxpayer dollars into federally- directed early education programs
will provide a substantial new benefit to taxpayers.
Instead of creating new costly federal programs, Congress should
reform existing programs to provide better services to students and
savings to taxpayers.
Lindsey M. Burke is a Research
Assistant in the Domestic Policy Studies Department at The Heritage