New America Foundation Early Ed Watch, By Clare McCann
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A new report from two child advocacy groups, First Focus and Save the Children, gave the United States a grade of C- on children’s issues for last year. The report, America’s Report Card 2012, considered White House, federal agency, state and community efforts on family economic security; early childhood and K-12 education; permanency and stability in welfare programs and for immigrant families; and children’s health and safety. The groups examined federal, state and local efforts in each of these areas, and gave scores according to qualitative analyses.
The report issued the United States a C+ for early learning programs and a D for access to child care. The early learning grade reflects falling funding for state-funded pre-K programs and limited enrollment in Head Start and Early Head Start. Here at New America, the Federal Education Budget Project and the Early Education Initiative collaborated to collect and display data detailing funding and enrollment for state-funded pre-K and federal Head Start and special education programs across the country. According to our analysis, half of the 40 states with state-funded pre-K programs reported no increase or a drop in funding for state-funded pre-K from 2010 to 2011. One state, Arizona, eliminated its pre-K program last year. Meanwhile, in 25 of the 40 states with pre-K programs, enrollment increased, which means many states were forced to either limit access to pre-K or stretch resources to cover more children.
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