(Washington,
D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Labor,
Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) Subcommittee,
announced that she has included funding to boost early childhood education
programs in the Fiscal Year 2011 LHHS Appropriations bill.
“As
a former preschool teacher, I understand the importance of early childhood
education,” said
Senator Murray.
“Children who access high-quality early childhood education have higher
earnings and have a better shot at success in their careers than those who did
not. Especially in this tough economic climate, it is critical that we prepare
our children for elementary school and beyond.”
Having
passed the LHHS Subcommittee, the bill will now go to the full Senate
Appropriations Committee before going to the full Senate for consideration.
Early
Learning Challenge Fund
This
bill funds grants to states to improve early education standards and practices,
build an effective early childhood workforce, and improve the school readiness
of young children. Washington state is already doing exceptional work on early
childhood quality standards. This funding will help Washington and other states
ensure that our children are arriving at school ready to learn.
Child
Care and Development Block Grant
This
bill authorized $3.1 billion for child care assistance for low income families.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included important investments
in child care, allowing states to increase assistance for low-income families
and support quality improvement activities. The bill maintains the
funding level provided for in the Recovery Act by providing an increase of $1
billion over the fiscal year 2010 level, for a total of $3.1 billion, roughly
$300 million more than the House secured in their companion bill.
Head
Start
This
bill provides $8.2 billion for Head Start, an increase of $990.3 million over
the fiscal year 2010 appropriation. This amount will allow Head Start
programs to provide comprehensive early childhood development services to
978,000 low-income children, and maintain increases in families served because
of Recovery Act funding in fiscal years 2009 and 2010. The House secured $8.1
billion.
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