NAEYC Children’s Champions

August 12, 2009

*Funding Bills Moving Forward for Fiscal Year 2010

*New guidance to be prepared in case of H1N1 virus

HOUSE AND SENATE MOVING APPROPRIATIONS BILLS FORWARD

Before leaving for the month-long August recess, the full House of Representatives and the Senate Appropriations Committee completed its work on the fiscal 2010 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill.  The Obama Administration issued a statement in strong support of the spending measure (www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/sap_111/saphr3293r_20090723.pdf) while also making the case for spending priorities not reflected in the bill.  The Senate expects to take its bill to the floor in September.  (The 2009 federal fiscal year runs out on September 30.)  Some programs did not receive increases or significant increases compared to current levels because they were included in the ARRA (stimulus) legislation that covers fiscal years 2009 and 2010.

Here are highlights of the bills:

Head Start/Early Start received $7.2 billion in funding in both the House and Senate bills, an increase of $122 million over 2009 levels.  This relatively modest increase is intended to cover inflation/cost-of-living adjustments so that services can be sustained. 

Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is level-funded at $2.1 billion in both the House and Senate bills.

Title I Grants for Low-Income Children is flat funded at the current level of $14.5 billion in the House bill.  Since its inception, school districts have the option to use Title I funds for early childhood education and comprehensive services for children from birth.  Both the House and Senate rejected the Administration’s request to shift $1.5 billion from Title I to school improvement and to preschool programs in districts that use their stimulus funds for preschool given that Title I already may be used for those purposes. The Senate Appropriations Committee funded the program at $13.7 billion, which would be a cut from current funding levels. 

Even Start is funded at $66 million in the House bill, which is about $3 million less than current funding; the Senate Appropriations Committee eliminates the program, as suggested in the Administration’s budget.

Literacy: The House bill retains the Early Reading First program as a separate program, proposing funding at $127.5 million in the House bill, an increase of $15 million over the 2009 funding level but $35 million less than was requested by the Administration.  The House also would fund Striving Readers at $146 million to improve middle and high school literacy and early literacy.  Of the total, $66 million would be directed to early literacy, $70 million would be used for adolescent literacy, and $10 million for national activities and evaluation. The Senate Appropriations Committee provides $263 million for a new Striving Readers bill, which will create a birth-through-high school literacy bill and would subsume the Early Reading First program. 

IDEA Preschool Grants and Grants for Infant and Toddlers would continue to be funded at 2009 levels ($374 million and $439 million respectively) in both the House and Senate Appropriations Committee bills.

IDEA Part B is funded at the 2009 level of $11.5 million in both the House and Senate Appropriations Committee bills.

CAMPIS received a $1 million increase for a total of $17 million in spending in the House bill.

21^st Century Community Learning Centers  (afterschool) received a boost of $50 million in spending for $1.1 billion in 2010 spending in the House bill but was flat-funded by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Pell Grants –Both the House approved measure and Senate Appropriations bill maintain the discretionary portion of the maximum Pell Grant award at $4,860, which, combined with a mandatory supplement of $690, will support a $5,550 maximum Pell Grant in fiscal year 2010, an increase of $200 over the 2009 award level.

Perkins Loan Forgiveness funding is cut by more than $17 million for 2010 funding of $67 million in the House bill.

CHILD NUTRITION FUNDING BILL

Congress is completing work on Fiscal Year 2010 Agriculture appropriations, which includes the Child Nutrition programs.  The full House and Senate each passed their own bill earlier this month, and both versions will now go to conference to reconcile the differences into a single bill to send to the President.

Both bills provide a significant increase to WIC.  The Senate bill would allot slightly more ($7.6 billion) than the House version ($7.54 billion).  The bills also expand the Afterschool Meal Program—the Senate version expands the program to Wisconsin, and the House version expands to Connecticut and DC. The Senate bill would allot more to WIC ($7.6 billon) than the House bill ($7.54 billion). The bills also outline 2010 spending for the Child and Adult Care Food Program ($2.69 billion) and the Special Milk Program ($13.6 million), both of which are mandatory spending programs.

GUIDANCE FOR SWINE FLU AND CHILDREN ISSUED

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidance and helpful materials on the H1N1 virus for child care programs and K-12 schools, teachers, administrators and parents.  Here are useful sites so that you, your colleagues, and parents can be prepared. 

Early childhood programs:    www.flu.gov/plan/school/preschool.html

K-12 schools:   www.flu.gov/plan/school/schoolguidance.html and www.flu.gov/plan/school/toolkit.html

Workplace preparedness:   www.flu.gov/plan/workplaceplanning/businesschecklist.html
and  www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/pdf/covercough_hcp8-5x11.pdf  (a poster for the workplace).

The joint announcement from Secretaries Duncan, Sebelius and Napolitano is available at www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/08/08072009.html

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