In a rare bipartisan agreements on Monday, the House of Representatives passed a bill to reauthorize The Child Care and Development Block Grant Program.
What does this mean?
This bill offers vouchers to low-income families that will allow them to have their choice of childcare providers, including faith-based providers. "As of now, fewer than three of ten 4-year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program" (U.S. Dept. of Ed.), and hopefully with the passing of this bill we will begin to see a change in that number. While the Republican and Democratic party see different benefits of the program, they are on the same page when it comes to the absolute essentiality of early childhood education reform, and we couldn't be happier with their agreement.
Direct benefits of the bill:
-It will allow for low-income parents to work, knowing their children are being well taken care of.
-It will allow for the children of low-income families to have access to high-quality early education, allowing for early brain development and allowing for more children to start off on the same page in Kindergarten.
There is of course always more that can be done for early childhood education, but the passing of this bill is a step in the right direction, and we're looking forward to seeing further reform for ECE.
Learn more about the U.S. Department of Education's plan for the future of early childhood education here.
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