Our Policy Work: Education

The Issue

Research shows that pre-school age years are critical for cognitive and social development, laying the foundation for success in elementary school, middle school, high school and beyond. To effectively reduce the high school dropout rate, we must begin by improving access to quality and affordable child care and early childhood education. Despite this, funding for early childhood education has been has been drastically reduced.

Our Position

It is essential to increase funding for early childhood education in order to meet rising costs, increase quality, and respond to growing demand.

Background

Early childhood education (ECE) encompasses a broad spectrum of programs dedicated to helping children learn and develop school readiness skills across many different settings.  In New York City, such settings include, but are not limited to, child care centers, Head Start, and universal pre-kindergarten.

Ample evidence suggests that ECE is critical to positive educational outcomes and provides a significant return on investment.  Perhaps one of the most often cited studies is the Perry Preschool/High Scope Project, which was found to generate a considerable return on investment through its impact on educational attainment.  Sixty-five percent (65%) of students who participated in the program graduated from high school compared to the 45% in the control group. 

Currently, most resources for ECE come from the federal government via several funding streams.

Major Sources of ECE Funding in New York State
FUNDING SOURCE AMOUNT ALLOTED
TO ECE IN FY 2010		 DOES NEW YORK STATE CONTRIBUTE?
Child Care & Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Federal $101,983,998 Yes, matches
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Federal $393,000,000 Yes, MOE*
Head Start Federal $447,896,246 Yes, matches 20%
Social Services Block Grant Federal TBD No
Universal Pre-Kindergarten State $414,117,819 N/A
City Tax Levy Local $274,500,000 No

*maintenance of effort

Threats to Funding

New York State has decreased its match to federal allocations, even though overall ECE appropriations have been maintained through increases in federal funds.  Greater efforts are necessary to increase funds in order to meet higher costs and greater need.  Combined financing from additional New York State dollars and current federal allocations would go a long way in addressing the issues of access, quality and cost.

Currently, localities such as New York City make up for lack of New York State money allocated toward ECE.  Localities are negatively impacted by New York State's increased reliance on federal funds, and the cost of local maintenance of effort is rising for counties and New York City.

Taking Action

To secure and grow stable funding for ECE in New York City, United Way of New York City proposes the following: 

  1. Educate public officials at the federal, state and local levels about the importance of ECE and their specific opportunities to impact certain programs.
  • Federal:  Federal funding for TANF and CCBG has gone up in the past three years, and President Obama is devoting increased funding in the new budget.  Still, greater efforts should be focused on the federal level since there is larger potential for leveraging resources.
  • New York State:  It is important to encourage New York State to expand Universal Pre-Kindergarten and offer more money from its general funds.
  • New York City:  Urge New York City to discuss the use of city tax levy dollars.

 

  1. Advocate for New York State to increase its own investment in ECE and continue to match the federal allocations as closely as possible.

    New York State needs to increase its own funding invested in ECE programs, specifically general funds allotments from the Office of Children and Family Services and the Department of Education.

    Although New York State is facing a dire budget crisis, it should not decrease the amount it devotes to matching federal money for ECE.  New York State has begun relying more on federal dollars to fund ECE programs across the state, and lack of State dollars puts an increased burden on New York City and other localities to fund programs themselves.  New York State should continue to match and maintain TANF, CCDBG and Head Start funds instead of depending on increases in federal grants.

 

  1. Advocate for the renewal and flexibility of TANF, the Child Care & Development Block Grant and Universal Pre-Kindergarten.

    Continued renewal of TANF, CCDBG and Universal Pre-Kindergarten is crucial to financing ECE.  In addition, policy regulations should be more flexible in terms of how localities can use these dollars.  There is greater potential in blending funding and using it to provide better services when there are fewer restrictions.  Flexibility in blending funds will help providers offer the highest quality ECE options to the children of New York.