[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 90 (Thursday, July 13, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6678-S6680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. STEVENS (for himself, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Dodd, 
        Mr. Domenici, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Bond, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. 
        Lautenberg, Mr. Cochran, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Smith of Oregon, Mr. 
        Bingaman, Mr. L. Chafee, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Murkowski, Mr. 
        Roberts, Mr. Robb, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Wellstone, Mrs. 
        Feinstein, Ms. Mikulski, Ms. Snowe, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Kerrey, and 
        Mr. Warner):
  S. 2866. A bill to provide for early learning programs, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.


                    early learning opportunities act

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues from 
both sides of the aisle in the introduction of the ``Early Learning 
Opportunities Act of 2000''. We first brought this legislation to the 
floor of the Senate as an amendment to the reauthorization of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In fact, it is the pending 
amendment when we return to consideration of S.2.
  Simply stated, this bill is designed to help parents and others who 
care for young children acquire the resources and tools that they need 
to do their most important job---nurturing and teaching our children. 
There is broad, bi-partisan support for this legislation because many 
of my colleagues recognize the importance of learning in the first few 
years of life.
  Science has taught us that the most explosive time of learning for 
humans is during the first few years of life. Parents and others who 
provide care for our children need some help and support to make the 
most of these early years. Changes in family structures, the weakening 
of the role of the

[[Page S6679]]

extended family, and the rise in the number of working mothers have 
increased the need for communities to provide additional support for 
parents.
  The Early Learning Opportunities Act builds on existing state and 
federal efforts by expanding the range of programs, the types of 
activities, and the populations served by other early learning 
initiatives. Current federal efforts focused on early childhood 
learning promote programs that provide full- or part-day out of home 
care and education. Rather than duplicate these programs, the Early 
Learning Opportunities Act places its emphasis on helping parents and 
other caretakers increase their abilities to support positive child 
development.
  The Early Learning Opportunities Act will provide funding for parent 
support programs. Parents are their child's most important teachers. 
Before anyone thinks about kindergarten, teaching the alphabet, or 
counting the number of blocks in a tower, children are learning from 
their parents. When a parent talks and sings to an infant, the baby is 
learning about sounds and words as a method of communication. When 
children are fed and then rocked to sleep, they learn about security 
and love, which will contribute to their sense of self and autonomy. 
Long before they walk through the schoolhouse door, children have 
learned important lessons from their parents and others who have taken 
care of them during the first few years of life.
  Funding for the Early Learning Opportunities Act can be used to 
promote effective parenting and family literacy through a variety of 
community-based programs, services and activities. If parents are 
actively engaged in their child's early learning, their children will 
see greater cognitive and non-cognitive benefits. While all parents 
want their children to grow up happy and healthy, few are fully 
prepared for the demands of parenthood. Many parents have difficulty 
finding the information and support they seek to help their children 
grow to their full potential. Making that information and support 
available and accessible to parents is a key component of the Early 
Learning Opportunities Act.
  Early Learning Opportunities Act funds can be used to provide 
training for child care providers on early childhood development, child 
safety, and other skills that improve the quality of child care. For 
many families it is not possible for a parent to remain home to care 
for their children. Their employment is not a choice, but an essential 
part of their family's economic survival. And for most of these 
families, child care is not an option, but a requirement, as parents 
struggle to meet the competing demands of work and family. Just as it 
is essential that we provide parents with the tools they need to help 
their children grow and develop, we also must help the people who care 
for our nation's children while parents are at work.
  States can use a portion of the funds made available for the Early 
Learning Opportunities Act for statewide initiatives, such as wage and 
benefit subsidies which encourage child care staff recruitment and 
incentives to increase staff retention Today, more than 13 million 
young children--including half of all infants--spend at least part of 
their day being cared for by someone other than their parents. In 
Vermont alone, there are about 22,000 children, under the age of six, 
in state-regulated child care.
  The Early Learning Opportunities Act will improve local collaboration 
and coordination among child care providers, parents, libraries, 
community centers, schools, and other community service providers. By 
assessing existing resources and identifying local needs, the community 
organizations receiving funds will serve as a catalyst for the more 
effective use of early learning dollars and the removal of barriers 
that prevent more children, parents and caretakers from participating 
in good programs. Parents and child care providers will be able to 
access more services, activities and programs that help them care for 
children.
  An investment in early learning today will save money tomorrow. Many 
of America's children enter school without the necessary abilities and 
maturity. Without successful remediation efforts, these children 
continue to lag behind for their entire academic career. We spend 
billions of dollars on efforts to help these children catch up. 
Research has demonstrated that for each dollar invested in quality 
early learning programs, the federal government can save over five 
dollars. These savings result from future reductions in the number of 
children and families who participate in federal government programs 
like Title I, special education, and welfare.
  The Early Learning Opportunities Act is designed to be locally 
controlled and driven by the unique needs of each community. The 
legislation authorizes $3.25 billion in discretionary funding over 
three years for early learning block grants to states. The bill ensures 
that the majority of the funds will channeled through the states to 
local councils. The councils are charged with assessing the early 
learning needs of the community, and distributing the funds to a broad 
variety of local resources to meet those needs. In Vermont, the Success 
by Six initiative has demonstrated the importance of placing the 
resources and responsibilities at the local community level.
  The Early Learning Opportunities Act will serve as a catalyst to 
engage diverse sectors of the community in increasing programs, 
services, and activities that promote the healthy development of our 
youngest citizens. Funds may be used by the local councils in a variety 
of ways: to support reading readiness programs in libraries, parenting 
classes at the local health center, parent-child recreation programs in 
the park, and child development classes at the school. Access to 
existing early learning programs can be increased by expanding the days 
or times that young children are served, by increasing the number of 
children served, or by improving the affordability of programs for low-
income children. Transportation can be provided to increase 
participation in early learning programs, activities and services. By 
keeping the use of the funds flexible, local councils can work with 
parents, health care professionals, educators, child care providers, 
recreation specialists, and other groups and individuals in the 
community to create an affordable, accessible network of early learning 
activities.
  The Early Learning Opportunities Act will help parents and care 
givers who are looking for better ways to integrate positive learning 
experiences into the daily lives of our youngest children. When 
children enter school ready to learn, all of the advantages of their 
school experiences are opened to them--their opportunities are 
unlimited. I urge my colleagues to support and co-sponsor the ``Early 
Learning Opportunities Act of 2000''. I urge you to give our nation's 
children every opportunity to succeed in school and in life.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, our bipartisan goal in introducing The 
Early Learning Opportunities Act is to provide greater support for 
parents across the country in preparing their children for a lifetime 
of learning, beginning at the earliest age.
  I commend Senators Stevens, Jeffords, Dodd, Domenici, and Kerry for 
their support and leadership in developing this legislation and in 
seeing to it that children's voices are heard and their needs are a 
priority in this Congress. Senator Kerry and I have worked together to 
improve early learning opportunities in Massachusetts, and this 
national initiative is based in part on successful models in our state. 
Senator Dodd has been an outstanding leader on children's issues for 
many years. Senator Jeffords, the chairman of our Senate committee, has 
shown great skill and determination in shaping this legislation, and in 
keeping our committee focused on the important issue of early learning. 
Senator Domenici has been an essential ally throughout the development 
of this bill, as has the senior Senator from Alaska. Senator Stevens 
and I introduced the Early Learning Trust Fund Act as a predecessor to 
this legislation, and he was a leader in obtaining approval of $8.5 
billion for early learning in this year's Senate budget resolution.
  Clearly, the need for this legislation is urgent. Today's families 
are legitimately worried about the quality of care provided to their 
infants and toddlers while the parents are at work. Of mothers with 
children aged zero to five, a record 64 percent worked outside the home 
in 1999. The average cost of care for each of these children is four

[[Page S6680]]

to ten thousand dollars a year. This is their highest expense besides 
food and shelter, consuming a quarter to half of their wages. Too 
often, even this level of sacrifice isn't enough. Many families simply 
cannot find quality care for their children. Facilities are dangerous, 
crowded, or closed at the non-traditional times that many mothers work. 
Low wages attract the least skilled care givers, over a third of whom 
quit each year. Enforcement of quality standards is rare. Elementary 
and Secondary education fully deserve to be a priority for the nation, 
but so does early learning--and it is needed at a time when many young 
families are least able to bear the full cost.
  In Massachusetts, the Community Partnerships for Children Program 
currently provides quality full-day early learning for 15,300 young 
children from low-income families. Yet today, over 14,000 additional 
eligible children in the state are waiting for the early learning 
services they need--and some have been on the waiting list for 18 
months. A 1999 report by the Congressional General Accounting Office on 
early learning services for low-income families was unequivocal--
``infant toddler care [is] still difficult to obtain.''
  Even as the need to provide early learning opportunities increases, 
it is clear that many current facilities are unsafe. The average early 
learning provider is paid under seven dollars an hour--less than the 
average parking lot attendant or pet sitter. These low wages result in 
high turnover, poor quality of care, and little trust and bonding with 
the children.
  The Nation's military faced these same problems in the 1980's, and 
because of the threat that the poor quality of care posed to children, 
to morale, and to retention of personnel, the armed forces worked long 
and well to create a model program. The Defense Department now provides 
quality care to 200,000 children. Many European nations have followed 
the same path as the U.S. military, building a broad array of quality 
early learning models that prepare children to reach their full 
potential.

  Head Start is one example of the kind of quality program that has 
already proved effective throughout the United States. A recent survey 
found that more parents are satisfied with Head Start than any other 
federal program. But only two in five eligible 3- and 4-year-olds are 
enrolled in Head Start--and only one in 100 eligible infants and 
toddlers are enrolled in Early Head Start. As a result, literally 
millions of young children never have the chance to reach their full 
potential. We must do better, and we can do better.
  It is time to act to make early learning a top education priority for 
the nation, just as governors urged us to do a full decade ago. All 
preschool children should have access to the kind of care and brain 
stimulation necessary to enable them to enter school ready to learn. We 
cannot rest until all children have the opportunity to develop to their 
full potential.
  Academic studies have confirmed what parents have long understood--
education occurs over a continuum that begins at birth and extends 
throughout life. Study after study proves that positive brain 
stimulation very early in life significantly improves a child's later 
ability to learn, to interact successfully with teachers and peers, and 
to develop crucial skills like curiosity, trust, and perseverance. Two 
years ago, the Rand Corporation reported that ``after critically 
reviewing the literature and discounting claims that are not rigorously 
demonstrated, we conclude that these [early learning] programs can 
provide significant benefits.'' Governors, state legislatures, local 
governments, and educators have all supported these studies and called 
for increased investments in early learning as the most effective way 
to promote healthy and constructive behavior.
  The goal of this legislation is to enable all children to enter 
school ready to learn, and to maximize the impact of federal, state, 
and local investments in education. We must do more to ensure that 
children have access to the experiences they need during the five or 
six years before they walk through their first schoolhouse door. 
Education begins at birth. It is not a process that occurs only in a 
school building during a school day. When our policies respond to this 
reality, we will reduce delinquency, improve productivity, and become a 
stronger and better nation. Early learning programs are good for 
children, good for parents and good for society as a whole.
  The Committee for Economic Development reports that the nation can 
save over five dollars in the future for every dollar invested in early 
learning today. The investment significantly reduces the number of 
families on welfare, the number of children in special education, and 
the number of children in the juvenile justice system. Investment in 
early learning is not only morally right--it is economically right.
  Two months ago, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a bipartisan coalition 
including hundreds of police chiefs, sheriffs, and crime victims, 
released another convincing report. It finds that children who receive 
quality early learning are half as likely to commit crimes and be 
arrested later in life. Our greatest opportunity to reach at-risk 
children is in their youngest years.
  It is especially important for low-income parents who accept the 
responsibility of work under welfare reform to have access to quality 
early learning opportunities for their children. The central idea of 
welfare reform is that families caught in a cycle of dependence can be 
shown that work pays. But children's development must not be sacrificed 
as families move from welfare to work.
  We must expand access to Head Start and Early Head Start. We must 
make parenting assistance available to all who want it. We must support 
model state efforts that have already proved successful, such as 
Community Partnerships for Children in Massachusetts and Smart Start in 
North Carolina, which rely on local councils to identify early learning 
needs in each community and allocate new resources to meet them. We 
must give higher priority to early childhood literacy. In ways such as 
these, we can take bolder action to strengthen early learning 
opportunities in communities across the nation.
  The legislation that we introduce today will move us closer to all of 
these goals. It includes $3.25 billion over the next three years to 
enable local communities to fill the gaps that limit current early 
learning efforts. Local councils will direct the funds to the most 
urgent needs in each community. These needs include parenting support 
and education--improving child care quality through professional 
development and retention initiatives--expanding the times and the days 
that parents can obtain these services--enhancing childhood literacy--
and greater early learning opportunities for children with special 
needs. These priorities are designed to strengthen early learning 
programs in all communities across the country, and give each community 
the opportunity to invest the funds in ways that will meet its most 
urgent needs.
  Much more needs to be done to improve early learning throughout 
America. But we know from our experience in improving the military's 
early learning program that with small steps, over time we can go a 
long way. I urge the Senate to approve this important bill, and I look 
forward to its enactment and to the significant differences it will 
make.
                                 ______