NAEYC Update

September 29, 2005

*HEAD START BILL PASSES THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
*SENAT E COMMITTEE REPORTS OUT HIGHER EDUCATION ACT WITH NEW HELP FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS
*NEW REPORTS ON STATE CHILD CARE SUBSIDY POLICIES; EARLY CHILDHOOD WORKFORCE

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES HEAD START REAUTHORIZATION BILL

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of the Head Start reauthorization bill, H.R. 2123 by a vote of 231 to 184. In the Senate, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has marked up its bill, but floor debate has not been scheduled. The Senate bill (S. 1107) has many differences from the House version. Please see past email updates on the Senate bill at www.naeyc.org/policy

The bill came to the floor through a bipartisan effort of members of the Committee on Education and the Workforce. There are many positive elements of the bill such as stronger coordination across early childhood programs through state early learning councils, local agreements, and communication with the local schools; a requirement that the National Academy of Sciences convene a panel of experts to review and give guidance on appropriate child outcomes and assessments; and allowing expansion of Early Head Start, Migrant and Seasonal Head Start, and Indian Head Start programs. There are other elements of the bill that we will continue to work on with Congress to modify, particularly the issue of funding for the new requirements on teacher qualifications.

There were several amendments offered on the House floor. Here is a closer look at a few of them.

The amendment by Representative Kind (D- WI) to suspend the Head Start National Reporting System test passed by a voice vote. Letters from national child assessment experts and organizations whose members are experts in child development, education and assessment were sent to the House of Representatives in support of the amendment. Representatives Boehner (R-OH) who chairs the education committee and Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) spoke in support of the amendment. The test’s implementation would be suspended pending the review and recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences panel. NAEYC promotes appropriate child assessment that improves teaching and learning and program evaluation. However, we had raised concerns on many occasions about the test itself, its administration, and the lack of clarity about its use. HOWEVER, it is important to understand that HEAD START PROGRAMS MUST CONTINUE TO ADMINISTER THE TEST THIS FALL. This amendment on the House bill does not suspend the test automatically. The Senate has not acted; the President has not received a bill to sign.

Another amendment would allow religious-affiliated Head Start providers to use a person’s religion in hiring decisions in Head Start programs. Religious affiliated programs can be federal Head Start grantees, and nothing in this bill or in any of the amendments offered attempted to change their eligibility for federal funding to provide Head Start program. NAEYC supports religious-affiliated providers eligibility for public funding for Head Start, child care, and state prekindergarten. Since the 1972 reauthorization under President Nixon, the Head Start Act has contained language on employment and other potential discrimination issues in Head Start. NAEYC has a policy position that states that individuals should be hired or fired on the basis of their competencies, not on the basis of their religion, gender, disability, orientation, national origin, ethnicity or marital status, and therefore we did not support the amendment. The amendment passed by a vote of 220-196.

The bill as it went to the floor has changes to the current roles and responsibilities of the parent policy councils. Representative Souder (R-IN) offered an amendment that would maintain the current requirements and roles. The amendment failed by a vote of 153 to 266.

SENATE COMMITTEE REPORTS OUT HIGHER EDUCATION ACT
The Senate HELP Committee voted out its bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. NAEYC worked closely with many members of the Committee to include early childhood educators in the teacher preparation grants and in loan forgiveness. In particular, we want to thank Senators, Dodd (D-CT), Reed (D-RI), DeWine (R-OH), Burr (R-NC) and Senator Kennedy (D-MA) for their attention to the preparation and financial assistance needs of early childhood educators.

Title II contains grants to help prepare and recruit teachers. We are very pleased that this reauthorization bill would extend for the first time the use of funds to improve the preparation of educators in early childhood education programs as well as K-12 teachers. We worked with the Committee to ensure that the definition of early childhood education programs in Title II includes Early Head Start and Head Start, state licensed or regulated child care (which would cover family child care home providers and center-based), state prekindergarten and schools serving children from birth through kindergarten. States would use their grants to improve and expand the preparation of teachers, including early childhood educators in higher education institutions. In addition, the state partnership grants for improving teacher preparation would include a focus on early childhood educators. Agencies and organizations that represent early childhood educators would be consulted in the development of the state grant application and plan.

The grants also could be used for teacher recruitment and retention, including scholarships and support for those who complete teacher preparation programs. It includes individuals who subsequently teach in an early childhood education program for the number of years (plus one) that they received this scholarship assistance.

On the financial assistance side (Title IV), the bill would include educators in child care and state prekindergarten programs in the mandatory-funded Perkins loan forgiveness program. Head Start teachers already are eligible for Perkins loan forgiveness, but the current rules did not cover child care and state prekindergarten teachers.

The bill also reauthorizes the Child Care Means Access for Parents Program that provides resources for campus-based child care while parents go to school.

NEW REPORTS ON STATE CHILD CARE POLICIES AND THE EARLY CHILDHOOD WORKFORCE
This week, the National Women’s Law Center released two new reports: Child Care Assistance Policies 2005: States Fail to Make Up Los Ground, Families Continue to Lack Critical Supports and In Their Own Voices: Parents and Providers Struggling with Child Care Cuts. The reveal both the shortfalls in state child care policies for low-income families and the detrimental effect of these policies on the lives of parents, children and providers. These reports show that from 2001 to 2005 it became more difficult for low-income families to get needed child care assistance, and that when cuts are made, they have a palpable effect on parents, children, and child care providers. You can download a copy of the reports at www.nwlc.org

The Education Policy Institute and the Keystone Research Center released Losing Ground in Early Childhood Education on the early childhood education workforce in center-based child care and family child care homes. The new report fills the data vacuum using the 1979-2004 Current Population Survey (CPS). The study focuses on teachers and administrators (i.e., directors) in center-based ECE programs. The report finds that the education levels of ECE teachers reached a cyclical peak in the early 1980s recession. Since 1983, there has been a fall in educational attainment that only stopped in 2001, when slow job growth made more educated workers available to early childhood programs. In addition to the full-length study that examines trends on the national level, seven companion Issue Briefs explore the early childhood education workforce in seven specific states and a supplementary set of downloadable tables makes general comparisons across 39 states. The materials are available at www.epinet.org.