Pre-K Legislation in the 111th Congress

Put on your bill-tracking hats, because Congress is back with more pre-k legislation.

Late last month, Sen. Robert Casey (D-Penn.) reintroduced the “Prepare All Kids Act,” which he first put before the Senate in May 2007. This bill would establish a Prekindergarten Incentive Fund to provide matching grants to states that establish or expand pre-kindergarten programs for 3- and 4-year olds. This year’s bill distinguishes itself from the 2007 proposal by:

• Putting the U.S. Secretary of Education in charge of the Incentive Fund, rather than the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, as was the case in the previous bill. The new bill instructs the two agencies to work together in administering the funds.

• Raising the amount that is set aside to cover infant-toddler care to 15 percent, up from 10 percent in the previous bill.

• Expanding the list of stakeholders (such as Head Start and local education agencies) with whom states must describe their pre-k collaboration activities to include State Advisory Councils on Early Childhood Education established under the 2007 Head Start reauthorization.

• Requiring states to describe how they will meet the needs of families under 200 percent of the poverty line. This is a change from the previous bill, which required an assurance from states that they would provide prekindergarten for these children free of charge.

Rep. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai’i) also reintroduced her bill, the “PRE-K Act.” Last year the House Education and Labor committee voted to approve Hirono’s bill, but the legislation never came to a vote on the House floor. The bill provides funds to establish or expand state pre-k programs. As we wrote last year, it places a strong emphasis on quality. The reintroduced pre-k bill makes some modifications to the previous version, such as addition provisions that allow states to use funds to help teacher aides obtain associate’s degrees in early education, to hire or retain teachers who have specialized training in working with English Language Learners, and to support mentoring programs for pre-k teachers during their first three years in the profession. The bill also now includes a 10-percent set-aside for quality in programs for children up to age 3.

In January, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) reintroduced the “Ready to Learn Act,” which was originally introduced by Senators Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) in 2007. On the House side, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) reintroduced the “Universal Prekindergarten Act,” which he also introduced in the last Congress. Both of these bills would provide matching grants to states for pre-k, and neither is substantially different from versions introduced in the 110^th Congress.

While the content of these bills has not changed significantly since then, the makeup of the Congress that will consider them has. The Democratic majorities in both chambers and the Obama Administration’s emphasis on early education suggest a more favorable environment for legislation to provide federal investments in pre-k. We’ll be watching to see how this legislation progresses.