(This is a guest blog post by Rep. Dale Kildee, Education and
Labor Committee Member and Chair of the Subcommittee Early Childhood,
Elementary and Secondary Education.)
President Barack Obama has called for a reformed 21st century education system, and comprehensive early childhood education is critical to that vision. The President set a goal of ensuring that every child has access to a complete, competitive education from birth forward.
That is why Congress and the President worked together to increase funding by $2.3 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start, and by $2.1 billion for the child care and development block grant in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the appropriations bill for 2009.
Those investments will preserve and create jobs and improve access and quality for the children who need those programs. That is why I was so pleased to see that President Obama’s budget will commit significant new resources to early childhood development.
The federal budget should reflect our values as a nation. And that is just what the President’s budget will do.
President Barack Obama has called for a reformed 21st century education system, and comprehensive early childhood education is critical to that vision. The President set a goal of ensuring that every child has access to a complete, competitive education from birth forward.
That is why Congress and the President worked together to increase funding by $2.3 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start, and by $2.1 billion for the child care and development block grant in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the appropriations bill for 2009.
Those investments will preserve and create jobs and improve access and quality for the children who need those programs. That is why I was so pleased to see that President Obama’s budget will commit significant new resources to early childhood development.
The federal budget should reflect our values as a nation. And that is just what the President’s budget will do.
I look forward to this committee’s work with the President to help parents and educators make the early years of children’s lives nurturing and enriching. Ensuring that children and their families have access to high-quality, comprehensive services that help the children develop cognitively, physically, socially and emotionally enables them to succeed in school and in life.
Children who receive quality early childhood education and development services do better in reading and math, and are more likely to graduate from high school, attend college, and hold higher paying jobs. The support and security that these services provide infants, toddlers and young children help their brains develop in the early years and set the foundation – literally – for later development and learning.
Last Congress, we reauthorized the Head Start Act to prioritize teacher quality and Early Head Start. I was proud to have been the chief sponsor of that bipartisan reauthorization along with Chairman Miller, Mr. Castle, Mr. Ehlers, and others. The committee also reported my colleague Ms. Hirono’s PRE-K Act.
We took some important steps.
But meeting the goal that we share with President Obama is about more than any one program. It’s about ensuring that wherever children are, there are high standards, and the resources and accountability to ensure those standards are met.
As a father, grandfather, and former teacher, I know that is the key to their success and our success as a nation.
