Early Education

Quality Early Education

• Support access to quality preschool and child care programs by protecting existing funding levels for state-administered preschool and child care programs and opposing reductions in reimbursement rates and increases in family fees, which threaten program quality and accessibility.

• Support AB 1195 (Brownley), which may to be amended to help implement federal recovery funding in order to prevent cuts and promote access to quality preschool and child care programs.

Numerous studies have confirmed the social and economic benefits of early education for children, especially those who are low-income. Children who attend effective preschool programs are better prepared for kindergarten and have higher language and cognitive skills in the first years of elementary school.

New research from the California Dropout Research Project shows that preschool is one of the most effective means of increasing school graduation rates. For example, evidence from two long-term evaluations of the effects of preschool show that participating in high-quality preschool increases high school graduation rates by as much as 44 percent.

Additionally, children who attend quality preschools are far less likely to get involved in crime down the road. In fact, one randomized study found that children who did not attend preschool were five times more likely to become chronic lawbreakers by the time they were 27 years old, compared to similar children who did attend preschool.

Preschool also provides tremendous economic benefits “with estimated rates of return that would make a venture capitalist envious,” according to Brookings Institution researchers. One study showed that preschool cut crime, welfare and other costs so much that it saved the public more than $16 for every $1 invested—including more than $11 in crime savings.

High-quality programs—those with well-trained teachers, effective curriculum and parental involvement—are required to reap these great public safety and educational benefits. However, the state needs to do more to promote quality in preschool and child care. Research found that only one out of every seven child care centers (primarily preschools) studied in California was of good or excellent quality. Low quality significantly diminishes the state’s opportunity to reduce crime by offering preschool.

Despite the tremendous potential of preschool, many California families do not have access to an effective preschool program. While the state provides preschool subsidies for some low-income families, its subsidy programs are so under-funded that most eligible children are denied assistance. In a 2005 survey, three out of four (76 percent) publicly-funded preschools surveyed in California had waiting lists, forcing them to turn away tens of thousands of 3- to 5-year-olds from families who cannot afford to pay for preschool on their own. In 2007, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst estimated that there were approximately 34,000 preschool-age children waiting for services on the state’s Centralized Eligibility List.

Despite the advantages of early education, the budget measure enacted in February 2009 included $100 million in preschool and child care cuts, which would cut spaces for up to 10,000 children as well as reduce reimbursement rates and increase family fees, threatening both program quality and accessibility. These cuts may be averted by the use of federal recovery funds targeted for child care and development to make up for the reduction in state funds.

AB 1195 (Brownley) would require the development of a plan to implement any new federal recovery funds allocated for child care and development programs and may be amended to ensure that federal funds are used to avert the $100 million reduction in preschool and child care funds enacted in the February budget measure.