- Sequester/Automatic Cuts Report: What Current Budget Decisions on the Hill Mean for You
- New CLASP Report on Financing Comprehensive Services
- Apply for a Policy Fellowship with the Society for Research in Child Development
AUTOMATIC CUTS WILL SEVERELY HARM EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: What Budget Decisions on the Hill Mean For You
BUT THERE ARE STILL VERY BIG DECISIONS TO BE MADE, WITH LONG-TERM IMPLICATIONS:
When Congress returns after the November elections, it will have very little time to resolve very significant budget decisions. For example, it must decide if all or some of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will expire on January 1, 2013 or be extended. If they do not let some of those cuts expire, thereby raising revenue (we are at the lowest revenue collection in several decades), then the budget decisions will mean more program cuts to deal with the budget problems.
Congress must decide if they will make changes to the sequestration – automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that are scheduled to kick in on January 2, 2013 – unless Congress takes measures to stop it. According to an agreement reached last year, the $1.2 trillion in cuts would be divided equally between defense and domestic discretionary programs. That is roughly a $109.3 billion decrease in federal spending for each year between 2013 and 2021. If Congress doesn’t change the sequestration agreement, then in the first year of sequestration: the Child Care & Development Block Grant would be cut by $187 million in one year, with roughly 80,000 children losing child care assistance; WIC would be cut by $543 million; and approximately 100,000 children would lose Head Start or Early Head Start services.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU AND WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Children and families rely on these federal funds for child care assistance, Head Start and Early Head Start, early intervention and special education, and K-12 education as well as some health care and nutrition services. Early childhood providers rely on federal funds for higher education grants and loans, for training costs, and as a source of income for programs to remain open. Roughly 75% of public funds spent on birth-to-five early childhood education come from federal sources and are passed either to states, communities or to providers.
Click here to email your members of Congress and tell them that we need an economically sound budget, a fair budget that looks at both program spending and tax spending together. No matter what happens to a member of Congress on Election Day, all of the current Representatives and Senators will be voting during the lame duck session after the election, making decisions that could last a decade.
NEW CLASP REPORT OFFERS STATES INFORMATION ON FINANCING COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES IN CHILD CARE AND EARLY EDUCATION PROGRAMS
We all know that comprehensive services like preventive health care, developmental screenings, and family supports are critical to the success of young children. The Center for Law and Social Policy's (CLASP) new report, Putting it Together: A Guide to Financing Comprehensive Services in Child Care and Early Education, aims to help state policymakers and other early childhood stakeholders look beyond the typical major sources of child care and early education funding and to consider alternative federal financing sources.
Learn more about funding and partnership examples from state and local communities, and important technical details on the allowable uses of funding streams (such as Head Start and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)) to support comprehensive services. Read the full report here.
APPLY FOR A POLICY FELLOWSHIP WITH THE SOCIETY FOR RESEARCH IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SRCD)
Do you have research skills in child development and want to use them to impact federal policy-making? Apply for the upcoming Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Policy Fellowships for 2013-2014 in Washington, DC and become a liaison between the fields of science and policy. As a fellow, you will have the opportunity to work full-time as a resident scholar within a federal agency or Congressional office between September 1st and August 31st.
To apply, applicants must have a doctoral-level degree in any relevant discipline (e.g., Ph.D., M.D.), must demonstrate exceptional competence in an area of child development research, and must be a member of SRCD. Whether you are an early-career or advanced professional, you are encouraged to apply.
Deadline to apply: December 15, 2012
For more information about the Fellowships, click here.
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