House Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Republicans on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee today criticized passage of the Providing Resources Early for Kids (Pre-K) Act (H.R. 3289), a bill that creates a redundant new federal early childhood education bureaucracy while failing to ensure services will be provided for all children eligible for the existing Head Start program, which serves preschool-aged children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Layering on a redundant new bureaucracy while refusing to target all available resources to the children we’ve already committed to serve is a glaring case of misplaced priorities,” said Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), the panel’s senior Republican. “The bill’s authors may have good intentions, but the consequences of this bill will be to drain resources from the very children who need them most.”

H.R. 3289 establishes a new federal early childhood education infrastructure at the U.S. Department of Education in order to provide federal dollars to supplement state-run pre-kindergarten programs.  To receive funds, states must meet a series of strict mandates on teacher credentials, school day and school year scheduling, and other federally-established guidelines.  However, the bill does not contain the same focus on low-income children as Head Start, diminishing its ability to close the readiness gap between disadvantaged children and their peers.

During consideration of the legislation, Republicans offered a series of amendments to prioritize services for disadvantaged children, improve program accountability, and protect taxpayers.  Republican amendments included:

•    An amendment offered by Rep. McKeon to ensure states invest the resources provided under this bill to enroll all eligible children in the existing Head Start program before redirecting federal dollars to expand their own programs;

•    An amendment offered by Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) to more closely align this new pre-k initiative with the existing Head Start program by moving the program to the Department of Health and Human Services and incorporating a series of program accountability measures that were included in last year’s bipartisan Head Start reform package;

•    An amendment offered by Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) to prioritize services for low-income children;

•    An amendment offered by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) to allow funds to be used by parents to select the early childhood provider of their choice;

•    An amendment offered by Rep. Price to ensure taxpayer dollars spent under the bill are offset with spending reductions elsewhere rather than driving up the deficit.

•    Amendments offered by Reps. Price and Virginia Foxx (R-NC) to ensure services under the bill are provided only to those individuals who are citizens, legal residents, or lawfully admitted for residence.

All Republican amendments were defeated.

A copy of opening remarks delivered by Rep. McKeon can be downloaded by visiting the Education and Labor Committee Republican website, or by clicking here.

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