On April 20, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development heard testimony on the federal role in the education and care of young children.
Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) stated, “The purpose of this hearing is to learn more about the effectiveness of the 69 federal programs that help parents help their young children with childcare and early education. By the end of the hearing we hope to get an assessment from the witnesses from three major federal departments about how these programs are working.”
Ranking Member Christopher Dodd (D-CT) voiced his concern that existing programs are underserving low-income children, noting that only half of the children eligible for Head Start are enrolled. He said that states, communities, and families face increased financial pressures, but, despite this challenge, funds for young children should be “an investment we are willing to make.”
Testifying on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Sciences (HHS), Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Wade Horn said that Head Start “will serve nearly 910,000 children in nearly 50,000 classrooms located across the country,” and another HHS program, the Child Care and Development Fund, will provide “$4.8 billion in funds to States, Territories and Tribes to subsidize child care for lower-income working parents.” Dr. Horn highlighted the president’s Good Start, Grow Smart Early Childhood Initiative as essential “to an integrated and coordinated approach to early childhood learning,” stating, “The initiative contains three key elements related to partnering with States to improve early learning: (1) research-based early learning guidelines in each State that describe what it means to be kindergarten ready, no matter what care setting a child is coming from; (2) statewide professional development plans, linked to the early learning guidelines, for educating and training child care and pre-school teachers and administrators; and (3) coordination across major early childhood programs and funding streams.” He added that “an Interagency Good Start, Grow Smart workgroup representing early childhood programs at HHS and the Department of Education coordinates Good Start, Grow Smart activities and works together to achieve school readiness goals for young children.”
Raymond Simon, assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education at the Department of Education, reviewed early childhood programs within the department. These include:
Asserting that Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) programs of the Department of Agriculture “enable other programs to operate better by making sure that young children have access to proper nutrition and are ready to learn,” Deputy Under Secretary for the Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kate Coler explained that the FNS “is responsible for managing 15 domestic nutrition assistance programs.” In addition to the Food Stamp Program and the Child Nutrition Programs, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children “addresses the special needs of at-risk, low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women, infants, and children up to five years of age” by providing “8 million participants monthly with supplemental food packages targeted to their dietary needs, nutrition education, and referrals to a range of health and social services.” Additionally, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program “provides food…to low-income infants and children up to age six, low-income pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, and to low-income senior citizens who are residing in approved project areas.”
During the question and answer period, Dr. Horn emphasized the importance of balancing the need for well-trained teachers with training for individuals from the local community. Sometimes, he said, parents who are not qualified teachers play an important role in their local Head Start programs by developing their skills and working as teacher’s aides.
