Kids Who Start Behind in Kindergarten Stay Behind

New report shows early learning programs get just pennies on school budget dollar

State-by-state analysis shows early child learning neglected

WASHINGTON – Voices for America’s Children, the nation’s largest multi-issue child advocacy network, today released a report showing that for each education dollar spent on school-age children, only 25 cents is invested in pre-school children and only 6 cents in infants or toddlers.  The report, Early Learning Left Out: Building an Early Learning Childhood System to Secure America’s Future, 3^rd Edition [http://www.voices.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/ELLO.pdf], includes breakdowns of spending in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“Securing America’s economic future requires an educated and productive workforce that starts with children coming to school healthy and equipped for success,” Voices for America’s Children President and CEO Bill Bentley said. “Parents are – and should be – their children’s first and most important teachers. But public investments can do so much to build on the nurturing children receive at home, and this report shows that there’s a lot of room to expand the best early learning education programs.”

The report examines total investments in education by state and by age, finding that children pre-school aged and younger get only a fraction of the investment that school-aged children get. Among the programs discussed are key legislative initiatives like the Child Care Development Block Grant, Head Start and Early Head Start, home visitation programs and Race to the Top education funds.

“Children who start school behind have difficulty catching up – and as much as half of school failure may be attributable to gaps in early learning and development that exist before children begin school,” Iowa’s Child & Family Center Executive Director Charles Bruner said. “Recent data show that while 85 percent of a child’s brain wiring is developed by age 4, only four percent of public investments in education are made by then. It’s my hope that this report is a wake-up call to our representatives of the disparity that exists in our education funding.”

Voices urged Congress to use its lame duck session to maintain progress in Head Start and Early Head Start through continued investment.

“Recent research has shown the enormous importance of the early years for learning,” said Amy Nicholls Swanson, executive director of Voices member Voices for Ohio’s Children and Chair of Voices’ Member Leadership Council. “We’ve made advances over the last decade in funding quality pre-K and early childhood education and we need continued funding to scale up the progress we have made.”

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As the nation’s largest network of multi-issue child advocacy organizations, Voices for America’s Children (Voices) has been on the forefront of every major child policy victory for the past quarter-century. With 60 members nationwide, Voices speaks up for kids, and mobilizes and advocates for public policies to improve the lives of all children, especially those most vulnerable, throughout the United States. Visit us at www.voices.org.

Voices is a founding member of the Children’s Leadership Council, a coalition of more than 50 leading national policy and advocacy organizations. www.childrensleadershipcouncil.com.