THE NATIONAL POLICY DIGEST
FROM
NATIONAL POLICY TEAM
VOL. 2, ISSUE 1
JANUARY 1-15, 2013
Bringing you the latest in state and federal early childhood development policy and research.
Questions, Comments, Suggestions for Improvement? Contact Anna Torsney-Weir.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Policy Trends and Analysis ............................................................................................................. 2
New Research................................................................................................................................ 3
Upcoming Events ........................................................................................................................... 4
Other News and Announcements ................................................................................................... 4
News from the States .................................................................................................................... 4
Arizona ....................................................................................................................................... 4
California .................................................................................................................................... 5
Washington, D.C.......................................................................................................................... 5
Florida ........................................................................................................................................ 5
Hawaii ........................................................................................................................................ 6
Illinois ......................................................................................................................................... 6
Kansas ........................................................................................................................................ 6
Maine ......................................................................................................................................... 6
Nebraska..................................................................................................................................... 6
New York .................................................................................................................................... 7
Washington................................................................................................................................. 7
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HIGHLIGHT: EARLY CHILDHOOD IN STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESSES
Many Governors have made their annual “State of the State” addresses and released budget
proposals for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2014. Among our partner states, the Governors of Colorado,
New York, Oregon, and New Mexico specifically mentioned early childhood in their addresses.
Governors’ proposed budgets in Kansas, New Mexico, and Oregon all held positive news for early
childhood funding: maintenance of funding for the primary source of early education funding in
Kansas, and increased early childhood funding in both New Mexico and Oregon.
While the budget season is just beginning and it’s unclear where the final decisions on funding for
early childhood will end up, gubernatorial support is a key ingredient in increasing access to highquality early education opportunities for low-income children and families. The Digest will continue
to report on Governors’ addresses and budget proposals as they occur.
POLICY TRENDS AND ANALYSIS
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State Funding:
o According to a Stateline analysis, some states are experiencing a budget surplus going into the
2013 legislative sessions due to a combination of downsizing, changes in tax policy and
sometime the luck of having energy and commodities. This includes Iowa, Florida, and
Michigan.
o In NIEER’s annual State Preschool Yearbook report, a number of states are reported as “no
program” each year because they fail to offer a state-funded preschool program for their
youngest learners. According to a NIEER analysis, some progress is being made as policymakers
in several of these states are making moves toward increased investments in early childhood
education. Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert has proposed a $10 million state investment for early
interventions; Hawaii’s Governor Neil Abercrombie’s budget proposal includes $3 million for
ECE and the state’s Executive Office on Early Learning is already outlining its plans; and
Mississippi’s Governor Phil Bryant likewise has a budget plan incorporating $3 million for the
state’s Building Blocks program as well as for ECE research. Meanwhile, Jacqueline Sly, a
legislator in South Dakota, plans to introduce a bill in the upcoming session to establish a
preschool intervention program. And, in Indiana’s state capital of Indianapolis, a public
preschool program is set to roll out next fall to serve more than 1,000 of the city’s 4-year-olds.
2013 Trends: A recent blog post from the New America Foundation’s Early Ed Watch, “Early Ed’s 10
Hot Spots to Watch in 2013”, predicts where the early childhood field will see the most action,
innovation and consternation in the year ahead.
Child Care: Urban Institute and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) at the US
Department of Health and Human Services, have released a compilation of States’ and Territories’ Child
Care and Development Fund (CCDF) 2011-2012 state plans. The CCDF Policies Database Book of
Tables: Key Cross-State Variations in CCDF Policies as of October 1, 2011 provides detailed
information on state policies concerning child care subsidies.
Education Policies:
o The 17th edition of Education Week's Quality Counts continues the report's tradition of
tracking key education indicators and grading the states on their policy efforts and outcomes.
Each year, Quality Counts provides new results for a portion of the policy-and-performance
categories that form the framework for the report's State-of-the-States analysis. The 2013
edition presents updated scores and letter grades, for the states and the nation as a whole, in
three of the six major areas tracked in the report.
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o
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StudentsFirst released the State Policy Report Card, which ranks state education laws and
policies based on how closely they follow the group's platform. The group uses the classic
academic grading system, awarding states A to F ratings. The two highest-ranking states,
Florida and Louisiana, received B-minus ratings. The states that were given F’s included
Alabama, California, Iowa and New Hampshire. New Jersey and New York received D grades,
and Connecticut a D-plus. The ratings, which focused purely on state laws and policies, did not
take into account student test scores. Read more here.
Health: According a Stateline analysis, Medicaid is still the biggest single item in state budgets, but it is
no longer the fastest growing expenditure. Total spending on the federal-state health care program for
low-income people increased by only 2.5 percent in 2011, according to new data from the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).That is among the lowest rates ever recorded, according to the
Kaiser Family Foundation. It compares to Medicaid spending growth of 5.9 percent in 2010 and an
average growth rate of 6.8 percent between 2007 and 2010. The nation’s overall health care spending
rate growth also hit an historic low. When all sectors were included, spending growth was only 3.9
percent in 2011, the same as in 2009 and 2010. That makes the three-year growth rate the slowest
recorded since the data was first collected 52 years ago, according to an analysis of the data by Health
Affairs magazine.
Teacher Effectiveness: A three-year study by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation found that effective
teachers can boost the test scores of students who had struggled under low-performing instructors,
marking a new salvo in the national debate over teacher performance. The study is the first large-scale
research to show, using random student assignment, that some teachers can produce test-score gains
regardless of the past performance of their students, according to foundation officials. Read more here
and here.
NEW RESEARCH
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Child Welfare: The Child Welfare Information Gateway recently published a bulletin that addresses the
scope of the problem of child neglect as well as its consequences. “Acts of Omission: An Overview of
Child Neglect” reviews definitions and strategies for assessing neglect, presents lessons learned about
prevention and intervention, and suggests sources of training and informational support. Strategies for
addressing neglect, beginning with prevention, are included.
Early Development:
o A new study suggests that babies learn bits of their native languages even before they are
born. A baby develops the ability to hear by about 30 weeks’ gestation, so he can make out his
mother’s voice for the last two months of pregnancy. Researchers tested 40 American and 40
Swedish newborns to see if they could distinguish between English and Swedish vowel sounds.
The study is scheduled for future publication in the journal Acta Paediatrica. Read more here.
o A recent report adds to the research base that playing equals learning for the youngest
children. The study, from North Dakota State University and Texas A&M University, found that
6½-month-old infants were able to differentiate objects by patterns when they were able to sit
up on their own while playing, thus freeing their hands to grasp and manipulate toys. By
contrast, 4½- and 5½-month-old infants - who were unable to sit up on their own - were not
able to recognize patterns. However, when the 5½-month-olds were given support to sit up
while playing, they were also able to demonstrate pattern recognition. The same finding was
not true for the 4½-month-olds.
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Health and Behavior:
o New research from the Children's Outcomes Research Program at Children's Hospital Colorado
shows that timely reminders by state or local health departments are more effective at
increasing immunization rates among preschool children than those from primary care
practices. Read more here.
o Some children who are accurately diagnosed in early childhood with autism lose the symptoms
and the diagnosis as they grow older, a study supported by the National Institutes of Health
has confirmed. The research team made the finding by carefully documenting a prior diagnosis
of autism in a small group of school-age children and young adults with no current symptoms
of the disorder. Read more here.
o New research out this week in Translational Psychiatry shows that early psychological trauma
may cause lasting changes in the brain that promote aggressive behavior in adulthood. Read
more here.
UPCOMING EVENTS
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January 29, 3 p.m. ET: The Pew Home Visiting Campaign is hosting a webinar entitled “Measures
of Success: Findings from New Research on Home Visiting”. Register here.
January 30, 2:00-3:30P.M. ET: The QRIS National Learning Network is hosting a webinar entitled
“QRIS and Family Engagement - a Strengthening Families(TM) Approach”. Register here.
OTHER NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
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The Harvard Family Research Project has launched an early childhood section on their Web site
devoted to parent, family, and community engagement (PFCE) in early childhood education
(http://www.hfrp.org/early-childhood-education/publications-resources). Resources are organized
by the following categories:
o Areas of Practice (program environment, transitions, engaging families as teachers, home visiting,
educator-family relationships, community partnerships)
o Program Foundations (professional development, program leadership, evaluation and continuous
improvement)
o Building Capacity for Quality Programs (improving outreach and communication, informing policy
and grantmaking)
The resources in each group highlight strategies for promoting positive outcomes for children and families.
NEWS FROM THE STATES
Note: The Ounce monitors ongoing developments in its partner states, but we welcome additional
updates from other states. If you have information to share from any other state, please contact Anna
Torsney-Weir at atorsneyweir@ounceofprevention.org.
ARIZONA
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The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that the Arizona Legislature violated the constitution when it
tapped a trust fund earmarked for education to help plug the state’s budget gap. Read more here.
In her January 14th State of the State address, Governor Jan Brewer announced that she will push to
expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The move surprised some, given Brewer’s resistance
to the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Read more here.
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CALIFORNIA
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On January 10th, Governor Jerry Brown released his FY2013-14 budget proposal for the year beginning
July 1. Overall, the budget proposes $97.65 billion in general fund spending, a 5 percent increase over
the $93 billion in the current year's spending plan. The general fund is the main account that pays for
services like K-12 public schools and higher education, health and human services, courts and prisons.
Including special fund accounts, made of specific taxes and fees that have to be spent on services
related to those revenues, and bond funds, California's total budget for 2013-14 would be
$145.8 billion. It's the first time since 2007 that leaders at the Capitol haven't had a deficit to contend
with and the first time since the late 1990s that the outlook over future years shows surpluses instead
of deficits. Aspects of the budget that would impact early care and education include:
o After years of funding cuts to early childhood programs, Governor Brown's proposed budget
would keep funding levels nearly the same as last year. Brown's budget allocates $2.2B,
including designated federal funds, to cover child care and state preschool for 340,000 children
in the 2013-2014 fiscal year.
o $40M cut from First Five California's budget
o Expansion of the Medi-Cal program as part of implementing the federal Affordable Care Act.
The federal government is paying all of the costs for the coverage for new people for the first
few years, but Brown's budget includes the state paying $350 million for coverage of people
already eligible for the program but who are not enrolled.
o A sweeping overhaul of the way California schools are funded, changing the way money has
been allocated for four decades. Brown wants to simplify funding streams, giving more local
control to school boards and more money to districts with low-income students and those who
don't speak English fluently. Read more here and here.
Read more about the budget proposal here and here.
The U.S. Department of Education is considreing offering a special, district-level waiver from the
requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act to just a handful of districts in California. So far, 34 states
and the District of Columbia have been approved for waivers that allow them to get out from under
key mandates of the NCLB law in exchange for embracing department priorities, such as measuring
teacher effectiveness based in part on student outcomes. Read more here.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
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At-large Councilman Vincent Orange has introduced a bill to prevent students from progressing to the
fourth grade until they can read at or above a third-grade level. The measure would require students
to take an "Annual Skills and Reading Diagnostic Assessment" at the end of each year, kindergarten
through the third grade. Read more here.
FLORIDA
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Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and a panel of lawmakers, doctors and public health advocates are
putting the finishing touches on recommendations to target the problem of women drug abusers giving
birth to children with drug addictions. The recommendations - likely to be adopted in January - include
$22M for more residential treatment services and substance-abuse intervention; a statewide campaign
to educate women about the dangers of prescription-drug use during pregnancy; continuing education
classes for medical professionals; and legislation to protect women who seek treatment. Read more
here.
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HAWAII
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Governor Neil Abercrombie unveiled his plan to provide a publicly funded early learning program for all
of Hawaii's 4-year-olds. He's set aside $32.5M for the program in his two-year budget, which awaits
approval by the state Legislature. About $3.5M would be dedicated to planning and developing the
program over the course of this year. The rest of the money would go toward implementing the first
phase of the program, which he hopes will be up and running by the 2014-2015 school year. The
program in its first year would serve about 3,500 4-year-olds born after July, about a fourth of whom
come from lower-income families. The state hopes to enroll as many as 17,000 4-year-olds by 2021,
according to Terry Lock, director of the Executive Office on Early Learning. Read more here.
ILLINOIS
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Health & Disability Advocates, a national health, education and employment nonprofit based in
Chicago, filed a formal class complaint against the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) claiming that CPS
failed to properly transition children turning three years old from Early Intervention (EI) services to
early childhood special education. The complaint was filed with the Illinois State Board of Education
after 2½ years of work to improve the system stalled. Read more here.
KANSAS
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On January 11, a state district court ruled that Kansas is unconstitutionally failing to provide students
a “suitable” education after slashing funding for schools in recent years. A three-judge panel said the
state was shortchanging its students about $400M — money it must find to comply with the
constitutional mandate. The ruling, which has been quickly appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court, has
major implications for a legislature that’s struggling to plug a budget shortfall after enacting massive
cuts to the state income tax. Following the ruling, Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita,
announced that Republican leaders are considering putting a constitutional amendment on the April 2
ballot aimed at thwarting a court-ordered increase in school funding. Read more here and here.
MAINE
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The federal government will allow Maine to make limited cuts to its Medicaid program, but not to
the extent Gov. Paul LePage ’s administration sought last year as it looked to close a $20M budget
hole. The state will book only a fifth of the originally projected savings as a result. The federal Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified state officials that they can cut about 12,600 low-income
parents and caretakers from Maine’s Medicaid rolls and cut or reduce coverage for about 8,300
elderly residents who also qualify for Medicare and rely on Medicaid support to purchase prescription
drugs. The federal government, however, didn’t allow the LePage administration to cut coverage for
about 6,500 19- and 20-year-olds or cut off coverage for as many parents and caretakers as the
administration and Republican lawmakers had sought. The state will make the prescribed Medicaid
cuts starting March 1. Read more here.
NEBRASKA
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Dr. Jack Shonkoff, Harvard School of Public Health and Founding Director of the Center on the
Developing Child at Harvard University, was the keynote speaker at the state’s 2013 Early Childhood
Data Summit in Lincoln, NE. Dr. Shonkoff addressed state senators and business leaders along with
early childhood professionals, state partners, and University officials. Following Dr. Shonkoff, a
research team from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln presented an outline on a study that First Five
Nebraska has commissioned to measure Nebraska-specific early childhood investments and their rate
of return and payback period. Results should be available later this year. Dr. Shonkoff also presented
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at a luncheon for public school superintendents providing data on the neuroscience behind Nebraska’s
investment in early childhood. Dr. Sam Meisels, incoming Founding Director of the Buffett Early
Childhood Institute and Joan Lombardi, Senior Advisor to the Buffett Early Childhood Fund served as
respondent and moderator at the superintendent luncheon. Nebraska Educational Television filmed
both events. In addition, Jessie Rasmussen, President of the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, conducted a
taped interview with Dr. Shonkoff at NET studios to be broadcast in partnership with NET’s State of
Education. These will be posted on First Five Nebraska’s website when available. Read more here.
NEW YORK
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New York City and its teachers union are stuck in their negotiations over a new teacher evaluation
system, jeopardizing $450M in state aid if they have not reached a deal in less than two weeks. Read
more here.
WASHINGTON
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A recent blog post highlights the Road Map Project, an ambitious initiative in the Seattle area that is
building a coordinated system that spans birth through college for some of the region’s most at-risk
students.
The Ounce of Prevention Fund gives children in poverty the best chance for success in school and in life by
advocating for and providing the highest quality care and education from birth to age 5.
The Ounce National Policy Team partners with and supports early childhood leaders in states as they
advance a comprehensive agenda for at-risk children and families. We do this by providing individualized
strategy and policy consultation and resources; facilitating peer-to-peer learning and networking across
states; and supporting Educare Schools and the Educare Learning Network in the development of their
policy and advocacy work.
The National Policy Digest: a bi-weekly newsletter that shares up-to-date and noteworthy developments in
state and federal early childhood news, policy and funding changes, research, policy trends and analyses,
upcoming events, etc. culled from diverse sources in the field. To subscribe, please contact Anna TorsneyWeir, National Policy Associate (atorsneyweir@ounceofprevention.org).
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