Early education secured another win in the compromise spending plan for the rest of the year, we learned as details continued to emerge today. The Child Care and Development Block Grant would receive an additional $100 million in fiscal 2011.

The increase means the block grant will be funded at $2.2 billion this fiscal year. Funding for Title I, education money targeted to schools with high poverty rates, and federal funds for students with disabilities would both remain stable, according to an email Pre-K Now sent to its state partners.

Plus, new details about the new early learning grants in the proposed $700 million for Race to the Top are out. Early Ed Watch has one of the best analyses of the plan, “Merging the Early Learning Challenge Fund with ‘Race to the Top’?”

If passed, states that want to win ‘Race to the Top’ grants would have to show that they are making strides in building early learning systems and increasing the number of children in high-quality settings.

But Early Ed Watch is hopeful this as an opportunity for states to think about how to better align early learning programs and the early grades of elementary school…– Early Ed Watch, 4/13/11.

(I have to admit I am still not totally clear on how this would work, but hopefully it will become clearer in the coming days.)

As our friends at Early Ed Watch point out, there is a big “if” in this analysis. But, signs point to passage by the end of the week, Congressional Quarterly reports in its daily briefing.

If the bill passes, it will represent a big win for early education. In a spending deal that would slash and cut federal programs, early learning would secure new investments.

It looks like the Obama administration is putting real money behind its recent early learning support.