12/19/2008

$10 Billion for Early Childhood Education?

In an article that provides an overview of the state of public funding for early childhood education, "Obama Pledge Stirs Hope in Early Education," The New York Times (December 16, 2008) discusses "the $10 billion Mr. Obama has pledged for early childhood education." Some key points made in the article:

• "In the presidential debates, he twice described it as among his highest priorities, and his choice for secretary of education, Arne Duncan, the Chicago schools superintendent, is a strong advocate for it."


• "Despite the recession, Mr. Obama has emphasized his interest in making strategic investments in early childhood education. Asked if the financial troubles might force him to scale back, Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the transition, said, 'We simply cannot afford to sideline key priorities like education.'"


• "It is not as though Mr. Obama is running against the wind. Major philanthropists including Bill Gates; Warren Buffett’s children; and George B. Kaiser, an Oklahoma oil billionaire, are financing education efforts for the very young. And the chairman of the Federal Reserve and many governors have said that expanding early childhood education should be a national priority."


• "Now that new initiatives seem likely, experts are debating how best to improve America’s early childhood system, which they call fantastically fragmented, unconscionably under-financed and bureaucratically bewildering. Some hesitate to use the word 'system' at all."


• "Debates cut many ways. Some advocates want the nation to start by expanding services to all 4-year-olds. Others say improving care for infants and toddlers cannot wait. Some insist that middle-class and wealthy children must have access to public preschool. Others say the priority should remain with the poor. Mr. Obama’s platform, which Mr. Duncan helped write, emphasizes extending care to infants and toddlers as well, and it makes helping poor children a priority. It would also provide new federal financing for states rolling out programs to serve young children of all incomes."


• "Outright opponents are fewer, and certainly less influential than they once were. In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon vetoed a bill that would have underwritten child care for everyone, arguing that the bill 'would commit the vast moral authority of the national government to the side of communal approaches to child rearing over against the family-centered approach.' For years after that, conservatives blocked many early childhood initiatives, but resistance has diminished in recent years."

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