The federal government increased spending on children’s programs in the last year, but these programs will have a tough time winning a bigger share of the federal pie in the future, a new report says.

Without the 2009 economic stimulus package, federal children’s programs would have received a smaller share of the overall federal budget, First Focus’s report, Children’s Budget 2010, found.

“Unless Congress makes children a higher priority, these programs will be forced to scale back to pre-2009 levels,” the group’s president, Bruce Lesley, said in a statement.

The report was one of two released this month that forecasted a rough budget outlook for children’s programs in coming year. Another report also found the federal share of spending on children’s programs has been falling for decades.

The reportshows that over the longer term, ten-year projections reveal an overall decline in federal spending on children. The report explains that if current law continues unchanged, the federal budget will grow as a whole, but a smaller share of the budget will be directed to children.

“In addition, Kids’ Share 2010 reveals that since 1960, the children’s share of the federal budget has diminished by a quarter, while spending on the non-child portions of entitlement programs has more than doubled.” – Kids' Share 2010: Report on Federal Expenditures on Children Through 2009.

Both reports are worth a read.

There are plenty of good arguments for better early learning in research papers and academia, but when those arguments come from the business world it’s a big step forward.

Now, one of the nation’s top human resources groups has called for smarter investments in early learning in a new brief that suggests if we want to create a competitive workforce for tomorrow, we should invest in better child care today.

The foundation of skills required to grow a team-capable, job-ready workforce is built in the earliest years of life - between birth and age 5 – yet we do not give our young children the early supports they need to get there. – “Meeting the Workforce Needs of Tomorrow, Means Meeting the Developmental Needs of Children Today.” (Thanks to the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies for highlighting this report.)

The Society for Human Resource Management brief covers familiar ground – early learning’s great return on investment and the rapid brain growth from birth to age three.

But, its argument starts with a different and fresher angle, suggesting that today’s workforce is falling short in key areas and that better investment in early learning is part of the solution.

 …Although employers expect young people to arrive in the workplace with a set of basic and applied skills, the reality is not matching expectations. – “Meeting the Workforce Needs of Tomorrow,” citing the 2006 report “Are They Really Ready to Work?”

For example, the report says 40 percent of employers rated high school graduates as lacking skills they needed for entry-level jobs.

For the next two decades, they will be learning how to think, act and compete in the global marketplace. By investing in our youngest children now – when those investments will yield the highest societal returns - we can build the workforce we need to keep America competitive in the years ahead. – “Meeting the Workforce Needs of Tomorrow.”

To build that workforce, the human resources group joined forces with other business types, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Manufacturing Institute, to lobby for better children’s programs.

Check it out.

Early learning may be winning more attention in the nation’s capitol these days, but the federal government is projected to spend less on children in the coming years, as funding from the economic stimulus package fades, a report found.

The good news is that overall federal spending on children, through Medicaid, child care grants and other programs, is expected to have reached 2.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product last year, thanks in large part to billions of dollars in stimulus funding, according to a summary of a series of  reports from The Brookings Institution and The Urban Institute.

The bad news is spending on transportation, bank bailouts, energy and other areas jumped even higher, which means “as a percentage of total federal outlays, spending on children is actually projected to decline, from 9.9 percent in 2008 to 8.2 percent of total outlays in 2009,” the report said.

If budget plans don’t change, federal spending on children would slip to 1.9 percent of GDP by 2019, the researchers reported.

Now these researchers had to assume budget policies wouldn’t change during the next nine years - and we know there is a good chance early learning will get more cash, at least during the next two years.  For example, these numbers would change if Congress enacts something resembling President Barack Obama’s Early Learning Challenge Fund and if Obama renews his stated commitment to those ages zero to five and their parents.

Whatever happens in the next few years, the Brookings-Urban Institute report offers a great overview of how the federal government invests in the next generation.

For example:

“Spending more than doubles per capita between the infant/toddler years and elementary years. The nation invested on average $4,121 per infant and toddler (birth to age 2), $6,702 per pre-kindergartener and kindergartener (age 3 to 5), and $10,783 per elementary age child in 2004 (age 6 to 11).” – Public Expenditures on Children through 2008 – Key Facts. 3/10/10.

Not surprisingly, the majority of federal money for pre-kindergarteners and kindergarteners goes to children living in poverty, with nearly two-thirds of funds dedicated to low-income families, according to the report.

Further Reading:

• Federal Expenditures on Pre-Kindergartners and Kindergartners in 2008 (Ages 3 through 5).
• “Public Expenditures on Children through 2008: Key Facts.”

(Thanks to the Foundation for Child Development for highlighting these reports.)

The recession continues to erode support for children’s programs around the country. At least 42 states cut programs last year that help children, and it may not get much better this year, a new report says.

The budget review found states cut everything from child care subsidies and pre-kindergarten spending to foster care and welfare payments. One state cut money for children’s hearing aids, another trimmed support for youth dental care and Washington State killed a vaccine program, according to the report by the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, Voices for America’s Children and Every Child Matters Education Fund. (The analysis has a great state-by-state breakdown.)

It won’t get much easier this year because states face as much as $260 billion in budget deficits, NACCRRA reports.

Congress will need to make investments in children’s programs a priority in both the
jobs bill and the 2011 federal budget if children’s programs are not to be cut further. – “State Budget Cuts: America’s Kids Pay the Price.” 1/8/09.

Plus, aid from last year’s federal economic stimulus package is running out.

The federal stimulus passed earlier this year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), did a lot to protect and invest in children. It included more than $50 billion in state relief for education and Medicaid and tens of billions of dollars in nutrition, health, income stabilization, and tax relief for working families. Yet substantial cuts still were necessary in 2009, and the Medicaid assistance that states received is scheduled to end on December 31, 2010.

The assistance states received for education and other services also will be largely exhausted by then.

To deal with these shortfalls, the Virginia-based interest group offered Congress a list of suggestions that is striking in its variety.

For example, lawmakers should consider spending more on mentoring programs and Job Corps, as well as Head Start and child care.

The report arrives at a good time, with early learning legislation moving through Congress – the Early Learning Challenge Fund plan and provisions in the health care reform bill for home visiting. The national child care group also points out the Obama administration is finishing up its fiscal 2011 budget plan.

It is still tough out there as state unemployment rates rise and jobs disappear, but pre-kindergarten initiatives fought the recession to a virtual standstill, losing no overall ground in state funding this year, a report released today says.

Despite widespread budget deficits, early learning preserved much of its political clout in state legislative sessions - 27 of 38 states either found more money or preserved current funding for existing pre-k programs in 2009, according to the report. Perhaps the strongest sign of early learning’s staying power was that of the 10 states with the worst budget shortfalls, seven either boosted or maintained pre-k spending.

Though total state investments will be effectively flat in FY10, rising slightly more than 1 percent to $5.3 billion, lawmakers’ choices clearly indicate that early education remains a top fiscal priority – even in these difficult times. By better than two to one, legislatures made concerted efforts to preserve pre-k. – “Votes Count for FY10,” released by Pre-K Now on 10/22/09.

While there was good news, it was a rough year, and the report had some tough words for Washington state.

Elsewhere, in Texas and Washington, the governors vetoed strategic efforts to expand pre-k opportunities or improve quality.

The debate in Washington is more complex than that brief description, and the authors address that later in the report.

Though the veto was disappointing, the governor (Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire) did follow up by asking state education agency leaders to develop a proposal for the 2010 legislative session to ensure that all children have the benefit of early learning.

In fact, a draft of that plan will be released for a first-round of feedback next week.

Washington also received a bad grade for cutting the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program by $1.65 million.

Washington was not alone. Ohio, Illinois and other states slid on financial commitments to pre-kindergarten, according to the report.

As a nationwide force, though, pre-k fought back the rising economic waters. But, as we have written here before, the worst may be yet to come because the financial health of state budgets could decline in the next few years.

Though the present pre-k funding picture is encouraging, in this politically contentious and economically uncertain environment, families with young children are especially vulnerable, and the danger is by no means passed. State budgets are projected to get worse before they get better. Indeed, new shortfalls are already being reported, and many states are projecting fiscal problems to last for years to come. Lawmakers will soon face even more hard choices.

The federal government is gaining a lot of attention for tossing billions of new dollars into the early learning pool, but it is important to remember much of the most important work is led, developed and funded at a micro level.

For example, one group is working to create a universal preschool system in a Michigan county, the Kalamazoo News reports. This is only the latest in a long run of local initiatives in St. Paul, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., Marion County, Ore., and elsewhere around the country that cobble together money from foundations, companies and others to improve early learning one county and one neighborhood at a time.

Of course, Thrive by Five Washington is developing comprehensive early learning programs – everything from prenatal visits to pre-kindergarten classrooms – in White Center and Yakima. Washington Early Learning Department chief Bette Hyde made a splash and impact by deciding to get kids ready for kindergarten by investing in quality child care, preschool and pre-k when she was head of the Bremerton School District.

“…School districts like Bremerton are using public and private dollars to partner with local early care and education community and share what they’ve learned with other school districts. You can barely open a newspaper anymore without reading about a local initiative to enhance early learning opportunities for kids.  The momentum is there.” Amy Blondin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Early Learning, wrote in an email.

Micro early learning work traces its roots back to the landmark Perry Preschool Study, and probably a lot earlier, which was initially funded by a grant from the Ypsilanti Public School District.

Today, the challenge is to bring together all of this local money with new and existing federal, state and local funds to make the biggest impact, Blondin added. This is a key reason why the state is developing its early learning plan this fall.

As Congress debates $8 billion for the Early Learning Challenge Fund and a growing list of other key investments in early education, it is important to remember the work, and often the funding, comes from the grassroots.

Thanks to the National Institute for Early Education for highlighting the news out of Kalamazoo.

The federal government dropped a bombshell about autism today, reporting that 1 in 91 children are diagnosed with the disorder.

The news isn’t just for the disability community. It holds fundamental questions, and potential changes, for early learning because it means a lot more kids are lining up at child care centers and preschools with an autism diagnosis. Unfortunately, the web of autism services designed to help these children is already stretched well beyond breaking.

The problem is money. Universities are producing a stream of trained educators to serve this growing group, but there isn’t enough public money for recommended treatment and therapy in those classrooms, points out Ilene Schwartz, chair of the University of Washington’s Special Education department.

“It would be like saying you have the best trained surgeons, but you don’t have an operating room,” said Schwartz.

Autism treatment is expensive. It is often recommended that children under the age of eight with autism receive 25 hours of treatment a week, but the public program for babies and toddlers supports 1 ½ hours, Schwartz adds. The Seattle area’s leading centers for young children with autism – The Boyer Clinic and Kindering Center – can offer more because of their directors’ fundraising ability, Schwartz says.

This finding adds yet another twist to the early learning debate. As advocates scramble to find funding to match findings of the importance of quality early education, where are they going to find money to serve the growing number of kids who need this expensive autism therapy?

The survey also found the average age of diagnosis is falling. Does this mean mainstream child care centers should accept more children with milder cases of autism, and add trained staff to support this work? Once again, where will they find the money?

Finally, will the increasingly common autism diagnosis change the basic definition of disability?

The latest report that roughly one percent of children have autism will only fuel these types of questions because it means more parents are demanding services and greater public and private funding.

The research is also catching up with the public profile of the mystifying neurological disorder – there is no established cause or cure for autism – that grabbed the public’s attention this decade with a slew of magazine cover stories and more than one feature on “Oprah.”

Researchers did not offer any definitive conclusions about why the incidence of autism is rising. But, they suggested increasing public awareness and diagnosis, as well as the addition of Asperger’s Syndrome and pervasive development disorder could help explain the spike, according the survey jointly run by the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. Today, the CDC rushed out a separate study with a similar finding that one percent of children “are affected with an” autism spectrum disorder.

The research appeared in Today’s online issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Pediatrics Association.