Comprehensive child care and early learning policy benefits everybody. From the benefits to the American economy and businesses, to the ways it improves healthy child development and educational outcomes, to the prospects for greater gender, racial, and economic equity, everyone in the United States has something to gain from a significant…

In the United States, presidential election cycles tend to bring with them a spate of proposals for how the federal government can address adequacy and equity issues in K-16 education. The overall cost, complex web of independent funding mechanisms in play, and the lack of appetite for giving up more local (or state) control tends to temper those…

The chronic underfunding of early care and education (ECE) is compromising the well-being of educators and the children they teach and threatening the economic security of millions of families in the United States. The current ECE system demands large contributions from the parents of young children, both through payments for ECE services and…

Federal spending dedicated to children represents just 7.83 percent of the federal budget in fiscal year 2016, and total spending on children's programs has decreased by five percent in the last two years, according to "Children's Budget 2016." The federal government makes more than 200 distinct investments in children. These include…

"Children's Budget 2019" is a comprehensive analysis of how kids and families have been faring in the federal budget over the past five years. The book captures and analyzes historical funding data and spending trends across a wide range of policy areas including child welfare, early childhood, education, health, housing, income support,…

The federal government makes more than 200 distinct investments in children. These include traditional children's initiatives like education and child abuse and neglect prevention. They also include other investments that improve the lives of kids, like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly Food Stamps). Following a…

"Children's Budget 2018" captures and analyzes historical funding data and spending trends across a wide range of policy areas including child welfare, early childhood, education, health, housing, income support, nutrition, safety and training, tracking federal investments in nearly 200 different programs. To determine the amount of…

"Children's Budget 2017" captures and analyzes historical funding data and spending trends across a wide range of policy areas including child welfare, early childhood, education, health, housing, income support, nutrition, safety and training, tracking federal investments in nearly 200 different programs. For each program listed, this…

As the Biden-Harris administration seeks to hasten the country's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, reforming the U.S. higher education system to ensure equitable access and attainment for all adults is more important than ever. Most student parents are mothers, students of color, adult and working learners, students with low incomes, and…

Compared with the former policies on early childhood education, the policies recently issued in mainland China clearly defined early childhood education as an integral part of education and social public welfare and stipulated the responsibilities of the government in its development, shifting the developmental orientation to promoting social…

For the last several years, manufactured crises in Washington have hindered, rather than helped, economic growth and opportunity. Earlier this year, however, Democrats and Republicans came together to produce a 2014 budget that invests in key areas of innovation, education, and infrastructure--investments that will help grow the nation's economy,…

The persistence of the Great Recession provides us with the opportunity to engage in a long overdue conversation about public investments in America's children. Less than ten percent of the Fiscal Year 2010 federal budget of $3.603 trillion is allocated to children and youth. This percentage is likely to decline in the next decade if current laws…

In this article, the author describes early learning and care arrangements in Canada and how the country faced the challenges in the development of a National Child Care System. While the provincial/territorial governments are responsible for early learning and care, the federal government has formed health and social programs including some child…

Research suggests that investing in young children can help build a strong future workforce, improve children's educational success and health, and potentially reduce some of the social ills that drain the nation's resources and will. To have an informed conversation about future investments, it is important to start from an understanding of the…