NIEER: The National Institute for Early Childhood
Research.
One of the headlines from the newsletter dated Friday
July 27, 2012, read as follows; But
Federal Funding for Children’s Programs Falls. I followed the link, which lead
me to a pdf, written by the Urban Institute. KIDS SHARE is the title of the article.
The report starts out by
saying; federal spending on children fell by 2 billion in 2011, the first such
decline in 30 years, (Issacs, Toran, Hawn, Fortuny & Steurle, 2012). The
report goes on to say spending is also expected to decline in 2012, as funds
provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, (ARRA), are
nearly exhausted.
While the federal
government spent less on children, total federal spending increased, from $3.52
trillion to $3.60 trillion. As a result, the share of the federal budget
allocated to children fell from 10.7 to 10.4 percent. Federal spending on
education was 5 billion dollars lower from 2011 to 2009.
State and local budgets,
which in the past have contributed as much as two thirds of total spending on
children, have been hit by the recession. We estimate that state and local
spending per child fell between 2008 and 2011.
As the temporary, boost in
spending under ARRA comes to and end, federal spending on children is projected
to fall. In the absence of legislative action, our projections suggest that
federal outlays on children will fall by 6 percent in 2012 and additional 2
percent in 2013. Only once in the last half-century was there a similar
decline, when the real outlays on children fell by 7 percent between 1980 and
1985.
This reports is 50 pages
long. It goes into great detail of spending on children’s programs and the
future projections on expenditures and funding. After reviewing the report I
asked myself, this question, how can we utilize our knowledge, and viable
research to help families access programs if the funding is not there to
support quality programming?
References:
Issacs, J., Toran, K.,
Hawn, H., Fortuny, K., & Steurle, E.C. (2012). Kids Share (2012). Report on
Federal Expenditures on children through 2011. Urban Institute. Retrieved from:
http//www:urban.org/UploadPDF/412600-Kids-Share-2012.pdf
Hi Millie
ReplyDeleteIt is shocking to hear that such a large portion of funding was cut from children’s programs and in particular, early childhood education. It is particularly saddening when in the media you hear about new programs/campaigns being started and funded such as the Early Learning Challenge, which is part of the Race to the Top Challenge. Why create new programs and campaigns when you cannot even accomplish a base standard in education, and are withdrawing money from the system to promote an idea and create publicity for your own benefit. I have always seen the redundancy in organizations as one of the biggest misuse of funds in the education system.
Carolyn
Carolyn,
DeleteI feel the same way in regards to why funding and programs are created and other monies are withdrawn. It does not seem to make much sense.
I was glad to hear from you.
Millie
Millie,
ReplyDeleteThe effects of the struggling economy are felt in many areas of our field. According to the Mid-America Regional Council on Early Learning, the rate of programs earning NAEYC accreditation have fallen due to the increased costs of implementing revised standards (2010).
Mid-America Regional Council. (2010). Soaring to new heights: The status of early learning in Greater Kansas City 2010:Full report and comprehensive findings. Retrieved from http://www.childcareresearch.org/childcare/resources/20323?state=KANSAS&paging.start
Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteIs your program NAEYC accredited? Again, this is another example of how the early childhood industry is being negatively, affected, by the country's economy.
I appreciate you sharing.
Thank-you, Millie
Hi Millie,
ReplyDeleteI cannot understand where the money taken away from education is going to and why the government allows those reductions on the budget, it certainly is a wrong decision that we all are going to pay for in the future.
About your concern on what can we do with the resource we all have, our knowledge, I think we can start by letting families know the benefits of quality education, and making them aware of their rights as advocates of their children, so then they can request policymakers and council members, with evidence based research on their hands, to stop cutting the budget as they have been doing with the education field.