Investing in the Early Years: A Great Return for Kids and for Connecticut

High quality caring and learning environments in the early years – starting at birth – are necessary if children are to be ready to enter school at age five. The high cost of quality care for young children, however, makes it unaffordable for most low-income and many middle-income families. Too many parents are forced to go to work without the assurance that their children are in safe, nurturing, and educational settings.

But funding for early care and education benefits not only children and parents, it also benefits Connecticut, by allowing parents to participate in the work force and by setting the stage for the next generation of workers to be productive members of society. Though Connecticut has publicly recognized these many advantages of investing in early care and education, and has begun constructing an admirable framework to ensure that its children make timely developmental progress from birth to age 5, its funding for early care and education remains insufficient to make this goal a reality.

Low-income children are at particular risk for not receiving this stimulation in their own homes, making the quality of care provided to them outside their homes all the more important. Research shows that low-income children have, on average, less cognitively stimulating home environments and greater environmental stress than children in wealthier families. It further shows that children whose caregivers have lower income, less education, and higher levels of stress in their lives begin to score lower on standardized tests as early as 18 months, and this “achievement gap” not only persists but typically expands as the children age.

However, it is possible to improve outcomes for vulnerable children by -- among other things -- improving prenatal health and nutrition, providing home visitation services, and creating access to high quality early care and ducation programs.

Connecticut’s funding for infants and toddlers does not reflect the need for intervention in the first 1,000 days. The Connecticut Early Childhood Education Cabinet, which was established by law in 2005 to promote the development of all the state’s young children, has recognized the importance of the first three years of life, offering a series of recommendations across seven key areas: maternal health, family support, physical and mental health, child poverty reduction, early care and education, early literacy, and systems innovation. Yet currently there are no new funds allocated to implement any of these recommendations.

Meanwhile, funding for Care4Kids, the state’s child care subsidy program, is 36% less in Fiscal Year 2008 (FY 08) than it was in FY 02 (adjusted for inflation), so far fewer children are being served.

Reimbursement rates have not been increased since 2001, meaning that eligible children have access only to lower-cost programs (problematic to the extent cost is correlated with quality). Policymakers perceive Care4Kids primarily as a “work-support program,” not an “early childhood program,”6 despite the fact that state law defines its purpose to be to increase the “availability, affordability, and quality of child care services for [working] families.” Indeed, from child’s perspective, the name of the program is totally immaterial; all that matters is its quality.

Two years in a high-quality pre-school setting results in dramatic increases in language and literacy skills, math skills, social-emotional skills, and fine motor skills. Investing in pre-school is not a substitute for investing in the first three years of life, but it is a necessary corollary to reinforce and continue brain development, vocabulary expansion, and social maturation.

Connecticut’s funding for preschool expansion is insufficient and does not take account of the obstacles to growth. Connecticut understands the importance of a preschool education. In 1997-98, the General Assembly passed and provided initial funding for its nationally-renowned School Readiness Program. However, as of 2007, nearly 13,000 children in Connecticut living in families with incomes at or below 185% of the federal poverty level still had no access to preschool.

Although an increase in funding for School Readiness in the FY 08 budget allowed for the creation of approximately 1,000 new pre-school slots, the FY 08 budget did not increase reimbursement rates, despite data showing that providers cannot afford to expand their capacity any further without higher rates. The state also has failed to make a strong, multi-year commitment to expanded funding for preschool, despite the fact that providers have identified the absence of reliable funding increases as a major barrier to their own ability to expand capacity.

Increasing funding for early care and education helps parents as well as children. There is no reason why “early childhood programs” cannot also be “work support programs,” and vice versa. If funding for early care and education is spent wisely, it will serve the dual purposes of promoting child development and enabling parents to work. Child care in Connecticut costs, on average, about $9,985/year for infant care, $8,695/year for preschooler care, and $1,320/year for a school-age child. For a working mother with income at the maximum eligibility for Care4Kids who is raising an infant and school-age child, this represents 29% of her annual income, if no subsidy is provided.

Without assistance, quality care is simply unaffordable for most low-income and many middle-income families in Connecticut. State funding enables parents to maximize future prospects for both their children and themselves.

Investing in the early years is a smart investment in Connecticut’s future. Effective early intervention programs have long-lasting and farreaching outcomes. There is evidence that children who participate in these programs are less likely to be retained in school, less likely to need special education services, and more likely to graduate from high school. They are also less likely to become involved with the welfare system, less likely to be involved in criminal activity, and more likely to be productively involved in the labor market.16 In other words, they cost society and government less and contribute more. Studies have shown that the most effective early childhood programs can yield returns to society for each early dollar invested of up to $17.

Connecticut can improve the quality of its early care system and expand access to services by:

• Increasing funding for Care4Kids, to expand its reach and increase provider reimbursement rates;
• Adequately funding and bringing to scale sound initiatives like State-Funded Child Development
• Centers, Head Start, and School Readiness;
• Supporting the people and places that take care of the many young children in home-based child care by, for example, linking family child care providers to opportunities for improving the quality of their services;
• Helping parents afford to stay home and care for their own children in their earliest years of life, through paid family leave;
• Investing in professional development opportunities and other quality enhancement initiatives that sustain leadership and a well trained and adequately compensated early care workforce; and
• Providing income supplements and tax relief to overburdened families through a refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit and Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.

March 2008, Connecticut Voices for Children - http://www.ctkidslink.org/publications/ece08investearlycare.pdf