Late Friday night the President, House and Senate came to an agreement in order to keep the federal government from shutting down, the final FY 2011 budget gives a lift to early care and education programs. The increases for these programs, while falling short of everything we wanted, are notable given that the bill makes major funding cuts overall, including cuts to some education, health, and human services programs. The final agreement for the FY 2011 Appropriations Bill, which will be voted on by the House and Senate and are expected to pass within the next few days, includes:

 

• A $340 million increase for Head Start and Early Head Start, which will allow the additional children funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to continue to receive services.
• A $100 million increase in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which sustains a small number of the children served by ARRA. It includes a proportional increase over baseline (pre-ARRA) funding levels in the quality set-aside (from $271 million to $284 million) and the infant/toddler set-aside (from $99.5 million to $104 million). 
• A provision allowing a portion of the $700 million allocated to Race to the Top competitive education grants for states to be used for grants to states to improve their early care and education systems. This initiative, which is similar in concept to the Early Learning Challenge Fund previously proposed by the administration, will be administered collaboratively by the Department of Education and the Department of Human Services. The goal is to "increase the number and percentage of low-income children in each age group of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who are enrolled in high-quality early learning programs" by offering incentives to states to "design and implement an integrated system of high-quality early learning programs and services." Any assessments must conform to the recommendations of the National Research Council's reports on early childhood, which have addressed the appropriate design and use of assessments for young children.
• A 0.2 percent across-the-board cut that will be applied proportionately to all non-security discretionary programs.

 

Now that the debate over FY 2011 appropriations is finally over, we must immediately move on to the even more difficult battles ahead on the FY 2012 budget. We must protect all those essential programs affecting the lives of young children and their families that were under attack in the FY 2011 budget.  

 

Congressman Paul Ryan came out with a plan to significantly cut spending in FY 2012. It would take two-thirds of its cuts from programs that provide crucial support to low-income individuals and families. It is essential that there is a loud outcry to your House members to protest this extreme and unfair budget. The cuts in the budget would affect child care and early education programs directly, as well as programs such as Medicaid that coordinate with these programs and serve the same children and families.

 

• Call Your Representative to urge them to vote NO on the FY 2012 House Budget Committee's Budget Resolution during a national call-in period between now and when the vote occurs later this week. The number to use to reach the U.S. Capitol Switchboard toll-free is: 1-888-245-0215. If you can't get through to the Capitol switchboard, click here to find the direct number to your Representative's office (not toll-free): http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/index.aspx.
• Ask to be directed to your Rep.'s office and deliver a message like this:

"I am a constituent and I strongly urge you to vote NO on the House Budget Committee's Budget Resolution. It would slash Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, education... in fact, all the investments that help Americans to be economically secure. It denies vital help for low-income and middle class people while giving trillions of dollars in tax cuts to millionaires and big corporations. Please reject these extreme proposals-they would weaken federal protections in a recession and stall economic growth for us all."