High-quality early education is one of the most important opportunities we can give our children. A solid early learning foundation helps children succeed later in school, helps America compete in a global market and gives all Americans an equal opportunity to succeed in life. Today, 70 percent of families with children include two working parents or one unmarried working parent. Working parents need access to good early education and child care for their children to help prepare them for school.
Key Legislation:
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act »Improving Head Start Act of 2007 »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The bipartisan child nutrition reauthorization legislation introduced earlier this month will improve children’s health, increase access to healthy meals, and create more year-round meal opportunities for children, witnesses told the House Education and Labor Committee yesterday. At the hearing, Miller announced that he plans to markup the legislation when Congress returns after the July 4th recess.
“We need to get our country back on a pathway of healthy eating and healthy living – this starts by not only ensuring our children are eating healthy meals in schools, but also teaching them healthy habits that will last them a lifetime,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. “This bill is a great opportunity to improve our school meal programs, to meet children’s nutritional needs at every venture and to change the future of this country.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A government report released today found some Head Start employees were engaging in fraudulent behavior to allow ineligible children into programs in eight cases in six states and the District of Columbia.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In light of an ongoing government investigation into reportedly unlawful actions by Head Start grantees, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today called on the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kathleen Sebelius, to conduct an immediate review of Head Start programs investigated by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
President Obama’s 2011 Education Budget continues an impressive funding commitment in education. His budget sends the right message about balancing incentives with resources – spurring major school improvements and providing the resources needed to make them.
The President’s proposed budget includes a request for $49.7 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education, a $3.5 billion increase from last year’s request. It streamlines programs through consolidation and program elimination with an eye on program effectiveness. Specifically, the President’s budget will:
On Tuesday, December 8, the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing to learn more about states’ efforts to help improve the nation’s competitiveness by adopting a common core of college and career readiness standards. To date, 48 states have joined the initiative.
On Thursday, October 8, the House Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities held a hearing to examine innovative strategies to ensure children have access to healthy, nutritious and safe school meals.
Today, the House is expected to vote on the Agriculture Appropriations Conference Report which includes temporary extensions of expiring provisions of the laws governing the child nutrition programs resulting in a cost savings of $150 million. These savings will be reinvested to meet critical child nutrition needs across the country to ensure more children have year-round access to healthy and nutritious meals at school, in child care settings, and during the summer months.
Ensuring More Children Have Access to Healthy and Nutritious Meals
ENSURING IMPROVED ACCESS AND QUALITY OF MEALS FOR ALL CHILDREN
Children should not have to go hungry – and they should have access to nutritious foods that will help them thrive physically and academically. In this difficult economic climate, the federal child nutrition programs have an increasingly important role to play in providing children with healthy meals while at school, childcare, or during the summer months. Over 32 million children each year are served by these programs. For many children, these meals may be the only healthy foods they receive during the day.
Research shows that children who are hungry have a harder time paying attention and learning in the classroom. Low-income children are also at greater risk of going hungry or becoming overweight, during the summer months. Providing children with access to healthier, nutritious foods at school, child care, summer programs, or other educational settings is vital to our efforts to help all children learn, succeed and grow.
To ensure that children can continue to benefit from these programs and services, Congress will temporarily extend expiring provisions of the Child Nutrition Act until a more comprehensive reauthorization of the law occurs next year. This one-year temporary extension will generate a savings of $150 million, which will be reinvested to meet critical child nutrition needs across the country. These new investments will address President Obama’s and Congress’ priorities to end hunger and improve child nutrition, increase access to quality school meals, and build program capacity.
On Wednesday, September 30, the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing to examine the progress states and schools districts have made toward ensuring that every child is taught by an effective teacher. Current law requires states to make sure teacher talent is distributed fairly in school districts, so that all children – including poor and minority children – have access to outstanding teachers. Several of the witnesses are former teachers.
The Obama administration has already taken steps toward improving teacher equity. In order to be eligible for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, states are required to take steps to place effective teachers in the classrooms that need them most.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation to dramatically transform early learning settings for low-income children to ensure they arrive at school with the skills they need to succeed. The bill, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R 3221) was passed by a bipartisan vote of 253 to 171.
Among other investments, H.R. 3221 establishes an Early Learning Challenge Fund to award competitive grants to states that implement comprehensive standards-based reforms to their early learning systems to help transform early education standards and practices, build an effective early childhood workforce, and improve the school readiness outcomes of young children. Transforming early education is a top domestic policy agenda item for President Obama. Today, almost 12 million children under 5 regularly spend time in child care.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Legislation that will make college dramatically more affordable for millions of Americans, at no new cost to taxpayers, overwhelming passed the U.S. House of Representatives today.
The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221), which was approved by a bipartisan vote of 253 to 171, will move the U.S. closer to reaching President Obama’s goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.
It will generate almost $90 billion in savings over the next ten years that will be used to boost Pell Grant scholarships, keep interest rates on federal loans affordable, create a more reliable and effective financial aid system for families, and enact President Obama’s key education initiatives. The legislation represents the greatest investment in federal student aid in history, and is one of President Obama’s three top domestic policy priorities, along with energy and health care.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today introduced legislation that will prepare a new generation of children to arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed by making a historic $10 billion investment to leverage reform in the nation’s early learning programs.
The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 embraces President Obama’s early education agenda. Building upon proposals included in his 2010 budget, the bill establishes the Early Learning Challenge Fund, a competitive grant program that challenges states to build a comprehensive, high-quality early learning system for children from birth through age five. The legislation is also fiscally responsible – it pays for itself by make changes to the nation’s federal student loan program that generate $87 billion in savings over 10 years.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, July 8, the House Subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities will hold a joint hearing to examine strategies for improving school safety, including ways to prevent violence, bullying and harassment. Recent studies show students are more likely to succeed academically and graduate when learning environments are free from harassment and violence.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The nation’s premiere early childhood programs for low-income children will begin receiving funding provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Department of Health and Human Services announced today. The plan invests $2.2 billion in Head Start and Early Head Start to expand the services for over 70,000 additional children.
Today, the Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee continues the series of hearings devoted to strengthening early childhood education with a hearing on “Improving Early Childhood Development Policies and Practices”. The hearing will further examine the early learning and child care needs of children and families, as well as collaborative state efforts and other initiatives to deliver high quality care and education to children from birth through age five.
This effort comes a week after President Barack Obama delivered his first major speech on education, in which he discussed early education as a critical part of his agenda.
Next week, the House Education and Labor Committee will launch a series of committee and subcommittee hearings devoted to strengthening early childhood education. The hearings will examine the early learning and child care needs of children and families, as well as collaborative state efforts and other initiatives to deliver high quality care and education to children from birth through age five.
This effort comes a week after President Barack Obama delivered his first major speech on education, in which he discussed early education as a critical part of his agenda.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – With millions of families losing jobs and becoming more vulnerable in today’s economy, it’s more critical than ever to expand access to high quality, comprehensive early childhood programs for the nation’s youngest children, witnesses told members of House Education and Labor Committee today. For many families, child care is the second highest monthly expense after housing.
Next week, the House Education and Labor Committee will launch a series of committee and subcommittee hearings devoted to strengthening early childhood education. The hearings will examine the early learning and child care needs of children and families, as well as collaborative state efforts and other initiatives to deliver high quality care and education to children from birth through age five.
This effort comes a week after President Barack Obama delivered his first major speech on education, in which he discussed early education as a critical part of his agenda.
The Committee held a hearing on bipartisan legislation that would help strengthen American families and help more children arrive at school ready to succeed by expanding access to early childhood home visitation programs for parents and children.
Research shows that these programs, which provide a variety of services ranging from pre-natal medical care to school readiness and family literacy programs, can help improve student achievement, reduce child abuse rates, improve early identification of developmental delays and disabilities, and improve access to health services.
