Early Childhood

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.

This afternoon, the House passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (HR 3221) by a vote of 253-171. The bill ensures that higher education is more affordable at no additional expense to taxpayers – in fact, it saves money. More students will go to college, they will graduate with less debt, and the federal loan initiatives that they and their families depend upon will be strengthened for decades to come. The legislation will generate almost $100 billion in savings over the next 10 years that will be used to increase Pell Grant scholarships, keep interest rates on federal loans affordable, and safeguard federal student loan access for families.

Speaker Pelosi:

Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA):

Chairman Miller: “My colleague on the other side of the aisle said that this legislation is the wrong way and the wrong place to make this investment. He’s got it exactly backwards. This is the exact way to make this investment. To take the savings by cutting the subsidies to the lenders and recycling those on behalf of families and students and our community institutions so that we can expand the educational opportunities in this country. we cannot continue just to wring our hands about our competitive place in the world..we must do something about it.”

Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX):

Hinojosa: “The legislation will increase affordability, accessibility and college completion rates particularly for first generation college low-income, minority and middle-class students. It invests $40 billion to increase the maximum annual Pell Grant scholarships to $5,550 by 2010 and 2019, $6,900 and provides low and middle income families with affordable, direct federal student loans and simplifies the application process for financial aid.”

Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ):

Andrews: “The issues before the House tonight are these. Do you agree or disagree that the time has come to make college more affordable for men and women around this country by making Pell Grant scholarships more available, student loans less expensive and more available? I think most people would say, yes, we do agree with that.”

Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) on the investments the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act makes to community colleges:

Chu: “As a Professor for over 20 years, I know firsthand how important community colleges are to helping hard working Americans achieve their dreams. About one out of every two college students attends a community college and they are some of the hardest workers I have ever met. My students came from all walks of life - they were immigrants, single moms and laid-off workers and many of the students were the first in their families to go to college. Community colleges are the backbone of our nation’s workforce.”

Chairman Miller responds to criticism of the bill and Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) explains how this legislation reforms student loan practices for the benefit of both the taxpayer and the borrower:

Bishop: “What we are doing is we are paying private lenders a subsidy so that they will have the privilege of lending federally originated money to their borrowers. We guarantee repayment of that money to the tune of 97% of the amount outstanding and the private lenders reap whatever interest payments are paid by the borrowers. This is a really, really good deal for private lenders. It is a deal that costs the American taxpayer approximately $8 billion to $9 billion a year that we don’t need to spend in that fashion. We can provide, We, the federal government, can provide the loan capital that students need.”

Chairman Miller appeared on Bloomberg TV to talk about House passage of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act by a bipartisan vote of 253 to 171. He highlighted how the bill:

• Invests the bill’s savings in making college affordable and helping more Americans graduate
• Provides reliable, affordable, high-quality Federal student loans for all families
• Prepares students and workers for 21st century jobs by providing all Americans with the skills and resources they need to compete
• Promotes early learning standards reform to ensure the next generation of children enter kindergarten with the skills they need to succeed in school
  
• Meets Pay-As-You-Go fiscally responsible principles and reduces the deficit  

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. – Below are the prepared remarks of U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, during House consideration of H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009.


I rise today in support of H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, a bill that will be transformative for our children, our economy, and our future.

Like President Obama’s other two pillars for economic growth – health reform and energy –this bill is about the future.

As he recently said: “In a world where countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, the future belongs to the nation that best educates its people.”

The legislation before us takes that challenge seriously.

Today Gail Collins in the New York Times writes an editorial about how the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act makes sense and is needed for today's American students:

Let us stop here and recall how the current loan system works:

1) Federal government provides private banks with capital.

2) Federal government pays private banks a subsidy to lend that capital to students.

3) Federal government guarantees said loans so the banks don’t have any risk.

And now, the proposed reform:

1) The federal government makes the loans.

....

If it all works out, Congress will have come a way toward fixing this problem, at least when it comes to federally financed student loans. There’s already a new law that forgives part or all of the debt for graduates who go into careers in public service. Terms will be easier for low-income debtors.

The House will vote on the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act today. Stay tuned to our Twitter feed for updates on the debate and the vote.

Both the New York Times and the Washington Post editorial boards called for Congress to pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, H.R. 3221, this morning.

The New York Times said:

Congress has a chance, starting this week, to end the boondoggle that allows private lenders to earn a handsome subsidy for making risk-free student loans that are guaranteed by the federal government. It’s a wonderful deal for the lenders — and an emphatically bad one for the taxpayers.

The House is expected to vote on Thursday on a bill that would simplify the loan system — and save the country nearly $90 billion over the next decade — by ending the subsidy program and allowing students to borrow directly from the government through their colleges and universities. To get this done, however, lawmakers will need to see through the spin and misrepresentations that have become all too common lately.

...

Lawmakers need to put aside all the noise and pass this bill.

The Washington Post said:

EXCEPT FOR a lucky few, paying for college isn't easy. Judging from how long it has taken, neither is reforming how the government provides the loans that make higher education affordable to millions. Yet Wednesday, as the House considers a bill that promises to save taxpayers billions of dollars, it's clear that the right choice is to vote yes.

Historically, the government has kept student-loan interest rates low through two programs: one in which the feds do the lending directly; and one in which the government subsidizes private entities that offer students loans at low, set interest rates. For more than a decade, private lenders fought back attempts to end the expensive subsidy system that kept them profitable at taxpayer expense. Then came the financial crisis, during which the public-private system fell apart, and the election of President Obama, who is intent on getting rid of the private middlemen.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), if the government directly financed all federally sponsored student loans, it would save $80 billion over 10 years. House Democrats have advanced a version of the president's plan that will probably get a vote in the House Thursday; the measure would put those savings into a range of worthy programs, from aid for community colleges to school renovation to larger Pell grants.

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act will be considered on the House floor today and tomorrow. Stay tuned for updates.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Below are the prepared remarks of U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, for a press conference on H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009.


Good afternoon. I’d like to thank U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Reps. Tom Petri, Tim Bishop, Ruben Hinojosa, and all our colleagues for joining us today.

I’d especially like to thank all the students for coming, and Jelisa Difon who will be sharing her story with us shortly.

We are here today under very exciting circumstances.

Over the next several days, the House will consider – and I believe will overwhelmingly pass – legislation that will be transformative for our students, families and taxpayers.

The Lincoln (NE) Journal Star wrote an editorial last week about the importance of investing in early learning.

Pay heed to local hard-headed law enforcement professionals who deal with the worst that society has to offer on a daily basis.

Speaking out in support of increased funding for early childhood education this week were Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady, Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey and his chief deputy Joe Kelly.

"It's a concept that makes complete sense to all of us in this line of work," Kelly said. "The mission is validated by research."

Studies show a return of as much as $13 for every dollar invested in care and learning systems for disadvantaged children, according to Jen Hernandez of the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation.

The return comes in the form of savings in the cost of operating the criminal justice system, welfare, schools and other public systems. Research shows that participants in early childhood programs are as much as 29 percent more likely to graduate from high school and 40 percent less likely to repeat grades or be placed in special education.

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act will invest $1 billion each year in competitive grants to challenge states to build comprehensive, high quality early learning systems for children birth to age 5. It will also:

• Build an effective, qualified, and well-compensated early childhood workforce by supporting more effective providers with degrees in early education and better compensation, and providing sustained, intensive, classroom-focused professional development to improve the knowledge and skills of early childhood providers
• Best practices in the classroom by implementing research-based early learning and development standards aligned with academic content standards for grades K-3.
• Promote parent and family involvement by developing outreach strategies to parents that will help them support their children’s development.
• Fund quality initiatives that improve instructional practices, programmatic practices, and classroom environments that promote school readiness.
• Quality standards reform that moves toward pre-service training requirements for early learning providers, and adoption of developmentally appropriate standards for teacher-child ratios and group size.

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act will be on the House floor for debate and a vote this week. Learn more about it.

Parade Magazine will run a story in tomorrow's print edition (available online now) highlighting the use and abuse of seclusion and restraint techniques in schools. Parade reports:

Across the country each year, thousands of schoolchildren—especially disabled ones—are restrained or isolated for misbehaving. The Government Accountability Office reported more than 33,000 incidents of restraint or seclusion last year at schools in Texas and California, two of only six states that track such data. Nineteen states have no regulations at all regarding the use of restraint and seclusion in schools.

The Committee held a hearing in May on the findings of the GAO report and to hear testimony from parents of children that had been abused through the use of restraint techniques. The hearing generated considerable press coverage and Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, pledged to asking all state school chiefs to submit their plans for using seclusion, restraint and other practices for physical intervention in their schools.

“Children’s safety has to be our number one concern before we begin to think about educating them and doing other things,” said Duncan. “And as we go into the summer and prepare for next school year I want to make sure that as we go into next school year that every state has a real clear plan as to how to do this in a way that makes sense. And doesn’t jeopardize, doesn’t endanger children.”

And again Parade says:

George Miller (D., Calif.) is working on a new set of rules that could limit the use of restraint and seclusion, provide funding to train school staff, and require communication with parents if extreme disciplinary measures are used. Says Miller: “We’re meeting with the Obama Administration and education experts about a federal action to keep kids safe and stop horrific abuses from going unchecked.”

We encourage you to read the entire Parade article and watch Chairman Miller 's recent interview on CNN about this topic.

Chairman George Miller was on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer last night discussing the use and abuse of seclusion and restraint techniques in schools. On May 19, 2009, the Committee held a hearing examining the abusive and deadly use of seclusion and restraint in schools. In response to the GAO report delivered at that hearing, Chairman Miller said, “The GAO’s report shows that in too many cases, a child’s life wound up being threatened even though that child was not a threat to others. This behavior, in some instances, looks like torture. The current situation is unacceptable and cannot continue.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Legislation that will make college dramatically more affordable for millions of Americans, at no new cost to taxpayers, was approved today by the House Education and Labor Committee by a bipartisan vote of 30 to 17. The full House of Representatives will vote on the bill next.

The legislation, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, will generate almost $100 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 priorities.
 

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.
 

A key piece of President’s Obama’s education agenda is helping children enter kindergarten with the skills they need to succeed by supporting comprehensive and effective early learning programs for children from birth to age 5. The first five years of a child’s life have a lasting impact on their learning, health, and behavior. Economists, business leaders, and child development experts agree that smart investments in early education are vital if we want to close the achievement gap and ensure our children are well prepared to thrive in school and in life.

Nearly 12 million children under age 5 regularly spend time in child care arrangements and children with working mothers spend on average 36 hours per week in such settings. But currently federal and state policies for child care leave families with a patchwork system of child care with mediocre quality. Our children deserve and need better. By 4 years old, children from low-income families are already 18 months behind most other 4 year-olds. From the start, education reform should include high quality early learning opportunities from birth through age 5 to help give children what they will need to grow and succeed.

To ensure more kids reach kindergarten ready to succeed, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act includes an Early Learning Challenge Fund to increase the number of low-income children in high quality early learning settings. Specifically, the legislation will:

Invest $1 billion each year in competitive grants to challenge states to build comprehensive, high quality early learning systems for children birth to age 5 that includes:   

• Early learning standards reform.
• Evidence-based program quality standards.
• Enhanced program review and monitoring of program quality.
• Comprehensive professional development.
• Coordinated system for facilitating screenings for disability, health, and mental health needs. 
• Improved support to parents.
• Process for assessing children’s school readiness.
• Improved data systems to improve child outcomes.
  

Transform early learning programs by insisting upon real change in state standards and practices:

• Build an effective, qualified, and well-compensated early childhood workforce by supporting more effective providers with degrees in early education and better compensation, and providing sustained, intensive, classroom-focused professional development to improve the knowledge and skills of early childhood providers
• Best practices in the classroom by implementing research-based early learning and development standards aligned with academic content standards for grades K-3.
• Promote parent and family involvement by developing outreach strategies to parents that will help them support their children’s development.
• Fund quality initiatives that improve instructional practices, programmatic practices, and classroom environments that promote school readiness.
  
• Quality standards reform that moves toward pre-service training requirements for early learning providers, and adoption of developmentally appropriate standards for teacher-child ratios and group size.

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.

A new study released today by the Economic Policy Institute that concludes that claims of massive jobs losses if a ‘play-or-pay” proposal was enacted as part of health care reform are vastly overstated. In fact, health care reform in general, based on the Obama principles, would produce significant job gains, the EPI wrote.

‘Play or pay’ policy as a part of health care reform would require that employers either provide health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty as a percentage of their payroll in order to assist low- or moderate-income families to obtain quality and affordable health care.

Under the House Tri-Committee discussion draft proposal, employers who choose not to provide basic health insurance to workers would have to pay an 8 percent penalty based on their overall payroll. Those workers would then be able to choose a plan that best meets their needs from a menu of insurance options in the national health care exchange, which would include both private plans and a public health insurance option.

The EPI also found that past studies that claim significant job losses as a result of ‘play-or-pay’ were based on proposals not on the table today in either the House or the Senate.

View the EPI analysis of ‘play-or-pay’.
 

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.

(This is a guest blog post by Rep. Dina Titus, Education and Labor Committee Member and Member of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education.)

With nearly 12 million of the 18.5 million children under age five in the United States in some type of regular child care or early education setting, we must ensure that high standards are met for the care of these children.  A solid early learning foundation helps children succeed later in school, helps America compete in a global market and gives all Americans a better opportunity to succeed in life.  In short, we know that those who start earlier, do better, and stay in school longer.  

At today’s hearing, Gina Adams, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, told us that research shows that the general quality of care that children receive in our country is not adequate.  She recommended focusing our policies across the age spectrum from birth to age five, investing in efforts that support the ability of working families to access high quality services, and improving the quality of child care.

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.

(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.

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.

(This is a guest blog post by Rep. Mazie Hirono, Education and Labor Committee Member and Member of the Subcommittee Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education.)

In today’s Education and Labor Committee hearing, we heard from experts in early education and child care from across the country.  The panel testified to the importance of investing in high quality early education and child care opportunities for children from birth to five.  We also saw that the entire panel agreed that the debate about the importance of quality early childhood education is over; study after study has shown that high quality early education does make a positive difference in a child’s life.  Children who attend good preschools are more likely to perform well in school and graduate from high school, and are less likely to commit a crime or use drugs.  With that important debate settled, we need to work with states to encourage investments in quality early education opportunities.

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.

Opening Statement delivered by Vice-Chairman Dale Kildee