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How Investing In Pre-School Education Could Boost The Economy And Combat Income Inequality
A new issue brief from the Center for American Progress is calling on lawmakers to help boost the American economy by investing in universal preschool and child care programs for children under the age of five. Such investments, the brief says, benefit working families and their children while strengthening human capital and addressing increasing rates of income inequality.
The CAP proposal would match preschool expenditures up to $10,000 per child per year through federal and state government grants. It would make pre-school free for children in families that make up to 200 percent of the poverty line while providing grants to families above that threshold based on a sliding scale that would cover between 30 and 95 percent of the cost.
Such a program would build on successful pilot programs in states like Oklahoma and Georgia, as well as federal programs like Head Start that have improved access to early childhood education for low-income children. It would also close the gap in preschool attendance that has opened between high-income children and those in low- and middle-income families:
But although nationwide preschool enrollment has increased to 74 percent among 4-year-old children and 51 percent among 3-year-old children, the lowest-income and most disadvantaged children are the least likely to participate in preschool programs. And children from middle-class families are only slightly more likely to participate—or sometimes less likely when gradations of family income are compared. Preschool opportunities for 3-year-olds appear to be a particular challenge for some middle-income families. Among 3-year-olds, 34 percent of children in families earning $50,000 to $60,000 participate in preschool programs, compared to 42 percent of children in families earning less than $10,000.
The CAP proposal would match preschool expenditures up to $10,000 per child per year through federal and state government grants. It would make pre-school free for children in families that make up to 200 percent of the poverty line while providing grants to families above that threshold based on a sliding scale that would cover between 30 and 95 percent of the cost.
Such a program would build on successful pilot programs in states like Oklahoma and Georgia, as well as federal programs like Head Start that have improved access to early childhood education for low-income children. It would also close the gap in preschool attendance that has opened between high-income children and those in low- and middle-income families:
But although nationwide preschool enrollment has increased to 74 percent among 4-year-old children and 51 percent among 3-year-old children, the lowest-income and most disadvantaged children are the least likely to participate in preschool programs. And children from middle-class families are only slightly more likely to participate—or sometimes less likely when gradations of family income are compared. Preschool opportunities for 3-year-olds appear to be a particular challenge for some middle-income families. Among 3-year-olds, 34 percent of children in families earning $50,000 to $60,000 participate in preschool programs, compared to 42 percent of children in families earning less than $10,000.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/02/07/1555401/universal-pre-k-plan/