Congress is getting to work and this legislative session could see another round of debate, and maybe progress, on early learning ideas, with the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act at the top of the agenda.

The debate over the key federal K-12 law has the potential to create one of the most fundamental shifts in education policy in recent years, linking early learning with the first years of elementary school and the overall school system.

Nothing is guaranteed – the Obama administration’s blueprint was fairly quiet on early learning – but interest groups are ramping up the pressure on the Democratically-controlled Congress to add child care, preschool and pre-kindergarten to the bill.

 “The problem is that it (the Obama administration’s blueprint) ignores the most rigorously evaluated and effective education reform of the last half-century: high-quality pre-kindergarten,” Marci Young, director of Pre-K Now, wrote in a guest blog post in the Washington Post. “To close achievement gaps and prepare students for success in school and in college, the administration and Congress have a clear option: build funding and other incentives for pre-K into the nation’s major education law.”

Pre-K Now also launched an email campaign, asking readers to send this message to policymakers in the nation’s capitol.

Congress has also begun work on its annual spending bills, and Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd and Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe are asking for $1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start and another $1 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Zero to Three reported.

 “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 infused funding into child care and Early Head Start/Head Start that allowed expansions in those programs within states. Since states created new opportunities for infants and toddlers to be served in child care and Early Head Start, it is important to maintain funding levels through appropriations that allow children to continue receiving services. – Zero to Three wrote in a request to readers to email their senators in another lobbying campaign.

Stay tuned for another busy year for early learning issues and advocates in the other Washington.