Veepstakes Watch: Democrats and Early Ed

Yesterday we took a look at the early ed records of Republican politicians rumored to be potential running mates for Sen. John McCain. The Democrats don’t yet have a presidential nominee, but now that Senator Barack Obama has secured a majority of pledged delegates, and only three primary contests remain, speculation about potential VP candidates has begun. Like the Republican field, the Democratic Veepstakes includes several politicians who have been leading advocates for early education:

As a presidential candidate, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson advocated universal pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten–both of which he also supported as governor. In 2006, Richardson launched the New Mexico Pre-Kindergarten Program, one of the highest quality pre-k programs in the country. Today the program serves 3,400 children across the state, and will expand further due to a 76 percent funding increase Richardson’s proposed for the program for FY 2009. Richardson also built on the work of his predecessor to expand the state’s universal full-day kindergarten program.

Like her neighbor in New Mexico, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has a strong record of turning early education support into action. She was able to convince a Republican legislature to fund a statewide voluntary full-day kindergarten program beginning in 2009. In addition to her support for FDK and universal pre-kindergarten, Gov. Napolitano recognized the need for aligned curriculum beginning in preschool. In 2005 she launched a P-20 Council, which seeks to align early education with the K-12 and college systems. In this year’s budget, however, she proposed to flat fund the Early Childhood Block Grant, a program that supports pre-kindergarten, full-day kindergarten, and reducing class size in grades PK-3.

Senator Jim Webb, the oft-mentioned VP contender from Virginia, has held elected office for barely a year, and the Senate Committees on which he serves–Foreing Relations, Armed Services, Veterans Affairs, and the Joint Economic Committee–don’t deal with early education issues, so he doesn’t have much of a record here. Webb has been a champion of improving higher education benefits for military veterans, however, and we’d love to see him extend that advocacy to support high-quality early education for children of military parents.

Even though Evan Bayh endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton, he is frequently mentioned as a potential running mate for Sen. Barack Obama. The Indiana senator (and governor from 1989 to 1997) supports efforts to move towards universal pre-kindergarten and improve the academic quality of Head Start. In 1991, as governor, Bayh proposed the Step Ahead Program, a comprehensive early childhood program that includes family outreach and pre-kindergarten programs. Yet Indiana today still has no pre-k program.

Of the other potential Democratic VP candidates include Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen and Virgina governor Tim Kaine, both of whom have lead tough fights to expand pre-kindergarten programs in their states. Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius has also pushed to expand pre-k services and full-day kindergarten in her state. As a presidential candidate, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware proposed increasing Head Start funding and quadrupling the number of students in Early Head Start. In 2007, Ohio governor Ted Strickland created a cabinet level position for early education and oversaw expansion of the state’s Early Childhood Education Program–but Ohio’s pre-k program still ranks very poorly on both quality and access.