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EARLY EDUCATION POLICY

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania calls on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide all families access to quality pre-kindergarten and educational child care programs proven to reduce crime. To this end, we have supported efforts to fund pre-kindergarten programs through the education Accountability Block Grant and the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, and support quality enhancement of early childhood care and education providers through the Keystone Stars program. Despite these efforts, which have contributed to Pennsylvania shedding its recent status of being one of nine states not funding pre-kindergarten programs, we are still far from the goal of providing all families access to affordable quality early childhood education programs.

Currently, only 40 school districts have chosen to use their Education Accountability Block Grant funding for pre-K programs, which translates into 3,052 students receiving services.

As part of the 2007-2008 budget, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania recommends a new direction for early education expansion. We support the establishment of a dedicated funding stream for pre-kindergarten, phased in over several years, beginning with school districts that have the highest incidence of low-income children.

Head Start In the 2004-2005 budget, Pennsylvania made its first-ever investment in supplementing the federal Head Start program with $15 million in state funding. This investment added 1,473 new Head Start slots and extended 1,013 current Head Start Slots to a minimum of six hours per day. The 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 budgets increased Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program (HSSAP) funding to $40 million. The HSSAP now is providing a Head Start programs for 4,450 children and extending 1,013 current Head Start slots to a minimum of six hours per day. Over thirty percent of children eligible to receive Head Start services, however, remain unserved. No other ECE program provides comprehensive family support services needed to the State's most vulnerable children while supporting parent's role as their child's most important teachers. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania recommends expanding the reach of the state's Head Start supplement by requesting an increase in the appropriation from $40 million this year to $55 million for FY2007-08.

Keystone STARS The crime prevention and other benefits of early childhood education are maximally realized only if children are in high quality settings. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania has supported the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare's Keystone STARS program, an initiative to improve, support, and recognize quality child care programs in Pennsylvania by strengthening the capacity and quality of programs. Since its establishment, Keystone STARS has become a nationally recognized child care program improvement, support, and recognition system. High quality child care costs more money than lower quality child care. As programs move up the STARS ladder their staff costs increase for professional development, salaries, and benefits; costs to improve the classroom environment increase, and costs to implement more in-depth planning, accountability, and evaluation practices increase as well. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania recommends assisting child care providers in improving the quality of their programs by expanding resources to the Keystone STARS program.