Politicians are proposing so many cuts to federal spending it’s getting hard to keep track. Now a new Washington Post list highlights 43 education programs that would be eliminated in a new bill to help reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

I decided to highlight early learning programs among these highlights. I am not saying these programs are or are not worth saving, only that the initiatives are designed to support early education. Check out the entire story at The Answer Sheet. It is full of useful analysis.

• Even Start: This program offers grants to support local family literacy projects that integrate early childhood education, adult literacy (adult basic and secondary-level education and instruction for English language learners), parenting education, and interactive parent and child literacy activities for low-income families with parents who are eligible for services under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act and their children from birth through age 7. – U.S. Education Department.
• Ready to Learn Television: Ready to Learn Television supports the development of educational television and digital media targeted at preschool and early elementary school children and their families. Its general goal is to promote early learning and school readiness, with a particular interest in reaching low-income children. – Education Department. (http://www2.ed.gov/programs/rtltv/index.html)
• Improve Mental Health of Children, Foundations for Learning: Promotion of School Readiness Through Early Childhood Emotional and Social Development.
  
  The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, may award grants (to be known as Foundations for Learning Grants') to local educational agencies, local councils, community-based organizations, and other public or nonprofit private entities to assist eligible children to become ready for school. – Education Department.
  
  
• Parental Information and Resource Centers: (The centers) help implement successful and effective parental involvement policies, programs, and activities that lead to improvements in student academic achievement and that strengthen partnerships among parents, teachers, principals, administrators, and other school personnel in meeting the education needs of children. – Education Department.
• Early Reading First: The program supports the development of early childhood centers of excellence that focus on all areas of development, especially on the early language, cognitive, and pre-reading skills that prepare children for continued school success and that serve primarily children from low-income families. – Education Department.
• Early Childhood Educator Professional Development: The purpose is to promote school readiness and improved learning outcomes of young children by providing high quality professional development programs to improve the knowledge and skills of early childhood educators and caregivers who work in early childhood programs located in high-poverty communities and who serve primarily children from low-income families. Education Department.