I recently attended a national public policy symposium in Washington, D.C., where Carmen Nazario spoke. Ms. Nazario is the assistant secretary for Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services.  Her comments were wide-ranging, talking about the administration’s budget proposals (expanding child care to 300,000 more children), the First Lady’s efforts to decrease the incidence of childhood obesity, and the Early Learning Challenge Fund.  But the biggest “ah ha” moments for much of the audience of early childhood advocates was the discussion of health care reform.

Large numbers of staff in child care centers, and self-employed family child care providers, do not have health insurance through their employers.  These low-wage workers often cannot afford insurance for themselves and their families, and do without.  Due to pre-existing conditions, they may be unable to even buy health care in the individual market.  Ms. Nazario believes that child care workers may be among the biggest beneficiaries of health care reform.

This week may be “do or die” for health care reform that would make care accessible to those who provide care and education to our youngest children.  For their sake and the sake of all the families in America who depend upon them, let’s hope health care becomes available at a price they can afford.

Yesterday an article appeared in the Wall Street Journal describing how governments all over the world are subsidizing child care in order to bring more women into the workforce, and even to boost sluggish fertility rates. Government investments in child care in Japan and France, for instance, are seen as the means to raise women’s employment rates and income, resulting in a huge increase in consumer spending.

I titled this blog “déjà vu” because I have heard this case over and over during the 30 years I have advocated for investments in quality child care. In the last 10 years or so, all the child care focus has been on the importance of the early years in laying the foundation for school success and lifelong learning. But prior to that, child care was in the public eye primarily as a tool to enable parents to work to support their families.

I don’t think U.S. policy makers are concerned with low fertility rates, as they are in Japan and France, but they are concerned with the economy. The article states, “Japanese economists calculate that raising women's employment rate from the current 67.5% would boost consumer spending enough to create an additional $70 billion in wealth.”

The Wall Street Journal article concludes that many in America want the government to stay out of child care, leaving the full responsibility to parents. They ask readers to weigh in with their opinions on the issue. It will be no surprise to my readers that I believe that government investment in quality child care pays double dividends – first, as an essential tool for economic development and, second, to close the achievement gap by having all children ready to succeed.

I am delighted to hear the renewed conversation about the link between the economy and child care. 

Two nights ago I spent more than three hours at a public hearing for the City of Cincinnati’s 2010 budget.  The Council has an impossible task on its hands – cut $51 million from an already tight budget.  Well over 100 citizens spoke about a wide variety of City services.  The folks dressed in green to support recycling and environmental issues were the most visible.  The parents with their children with special needs advocating to retain therapeutic recreation programs were the most moving.

I was there to support human services:  homeless shelters, services for victims of domestic violence, food for those who cannot afford food this holiday season or any season, and of course child care so that working parents can get and keep jobs.

What struck me on Tuesday was how respectful the members of Council were.  They sat through testimony which was, at turns, boring, thoughtful, repetitive, moving, rude and respectful right back.  While our current Council is extremely divided (four of the nine members are declining to participate in the negotiations) at least most of the members seemed to believe in the value of hearing from citizens. 

I wish them the best in getting to a balanced budget with the least harm to the City.  I also wish that they will fund human services at a time that people are most in need.

For 41 years the City of Cincinnati has licensed child care centers. The City adopted regulations long before the State of Ohio began its oversight function, and City leaders regularly renewed their commitment to higher standards – particularly when it came to class size. 

Effective October 31, 2009, the City regulations are off the books, and inspections have ended.  The reason is, like so much in this time of economic strain, the City cannot afford to subsidize this protection for children.  A second concern is that state law does not “give permission” to localities to create child care regulations. This has been the case for the full 41 years, but with this legal opinion, combined with budget constraints, the regulations were doomed. 

4C has convened a group of child care providers and advocates to determine if the child protections are salvageable.  Our first step will be to get language in the state law that permits cities to have regulations which exceed the state’s.  Such language currently exists for nursing homes, and we hope to mirror that language.  If we succeed in this first step , we will then propose a plan in which fees cover all expenses.  I’ll keep blogging on this issue, so stay tuned.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the value of Cincinnati’s child care licensing law – and a proposal to preserve only a few of the provisions.  I testified before the Board of Health and followed up with letters to the Commissioner, the Chairman and two City elected officials. Last night the Board of Health met again and eliminated the entire ordinance without a word about alternative plans. The ordinance is officially dead and gone after 41 years of protecting children.`

HOWEVER, I am pushing hard for a task force to consider our proposal to have child-to-staff ratios and square footage re-introduced.  Among some former supporters of the City law there is some ambivalence because of the tough economic situation and because there are some flaws in the law as it was.  However, those same (former) supporters have expressed a desire to restore the best of the law.  While I haven’t heard back from anyone at the Health Department, I approached their public information officer last evening at the meeting and learned that Commissioner Noble Maseru has referred the issue to their attorney.  We know from past experience that the attorney will warn against licensing, but we have had it for more than 40 years with no law suits or even threats, so I’m not buying that as a barrier. As you can see, there is still fight in me for this – particularly for the infant ratios!   

Loss of the City standards adds an extra burden on our community’s voluntary efforts to increase school readiness. I hope you will join 4C in the effort to restore some of the standards.  If you know anyone at the Board of Health or the Mayor, you might make a call!

I’m often asked if there is anything new coming out of Congress that will advance early care and education. With all the drastic state cuts, early childhood advocates are looking for ways to fill the budget gaps and sustain the gains of recent years.  The stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - ARRA) has already provided some relief – expansion of Head Start and early Head Start, for example, and general funding for states.  Ohio has plugged a big child care budget shortfall with these temporary funds, and there is a lot of anxiety about what will happen when those dollars run out. 

There are currently many bills wending their way through the system in Washington. Most of these are unlikely to ever see the light of day, but there are two that could find their way to Ohio and Kentucky. The first is called Race to the Top, and it is part of ARRA.  This is a competitive grant program to reward states (and their local school districts) for education reform that increases student achievement.  And of course, having children ready for kindergarten is a critical component. We hope Ohio and Kentucky are among the recipients of this $4.3 billion fund. 

The second is called the Early Learning Challenge Grant and is part of HR 3221 – the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act.  This legislation is specifically designed to increase the number of children from low-income families enrolled in high-quality early learning settings, and to improve school readiness for all children.  This also would be a competitive grant for which our Oho and Kentucky  would have to apply.  The proposed amount is $1 billion per year for seven years.  Ohio is already positioning itself to be one of the selected states. 

We will be tracking the progress of this legislation, and I’ll let you know what happens. 

Early childhood education programs are closing at an alarming rate. In the 23-county region served by 4C, there has been a loss of more than 3,000 spaces in child care centers since January. I could view this very theoretically—and it would make sense: Supply and demand. Unemployment is up, the need for child care is down.

But there is more than meets the eye. Working parents are finding lower cost, informal options—friends or relatives who themselves are out of work. Many parents have reduced hours or reduced pay, and full-time child care no longer meets their needs.

Ohio and Kentucky have invested millions of dollars to improve early childhood education because of the enormous benefits of high-quality early learning. The loss of these programs represents a set-back for school readiness. Informal child care providers do not have access to training, are not held to safety standards and often provide little continuity of care, with children bouncing from one caregiver to another.

I hope we—child and family advocates, policy-makers, funders and families—will work hard to preserve the gains in quality during these tough economic times so that when the economy improves, the foundation will still be in place to build a world-class early childhood education system for all children.