[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 34 (Monday, February 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF THE UNIVERSAL PREKINDERGARTEN AND EARLY CHILDHOOD 
                         EDUCATION ACT OF 2018

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 26, 2018

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce a bill similar to one I 
have introduced in five previous Congresses, the Universal 
Prekindergarten and Early Childhood Education Act of 2018. This bill is 
particularly important today because recent reports indicate that 
Americans are limiting the number of children they have due to the cost 
of child care. My bill begins the process of providing universal 
prekindergarten education in public and public charter schools in 
states that have or plan to phase in or are phasing in prekindergarten 
education for three-and four-year-old children. The District of 
Columbia has made considerable strides since I first introduced this 
bill, but today's bill is still needed to fill a hole in the ``Every 
Student Succeeds Act,'' which addresses elementary and secondary 
education, but ignores the prekindergarten years, the most critical 
years for children's brain development. My bill also seeks a 
breakthrough in public education by providing the initial funding for 
states to encourage local school districts to add prekindergarten for 
children at three or four years of age, whereas kindergarten programs 
for five year olds are now routinely available in public schools. This 
bill would eliminate some of the major shortcomings of unevenly 
available ``day care'' and, importantly, would take advantage of the 
safe facilities required in public schools. Unless early education 
becomes a necessary part of a child's education, it almost surely will 
continue to be unavailable to the majority of families with children.
  My bill provides federal funds to states, which must be matched by at 
least 20 percent with the state's own funds, to establish or expand 
universal, voluntary prekindergarten in public and public charter 
schools for three-and four-year-olds, regardless of income. The 
classes, which would be full-day and run throughout the entire school 
year, must be taught by teachers who possess equivalent or similar 
qualifications to those teaching other grades in the school. The funds 
would supplement, not supplant, other federal funds for early childhood 
education. The unique money-saving aspect of my bill is that it uses 
the existing public school infrastructure and trained teachers to make 
early childhood education available to all, saving billions of dollars 
in its implementation.
  The success of Head Start and other prekindergarten programs, 
combined with new scientific evidence concerning the importance of 
brain development in early childhood, virtually mandate the expansion 
of early childhood education to all children today. Early learning 
programs have been available only to the affluent, who can afford them, 
and to low-income families in programs such as Head Start, which would 
be unaffected by my bill. My bill provides a practical way to 
universal, public preschool education for the majority of families. The 
goal of the bill is to afford the benefits of early childhood education 
to the majority of the American working poor, lower-middle-class and 
middle-class families, most of whom have been left out of this 
essential education for their children.
  We cannot afford to continue to allow the most fertile years for 
childhood development to pass, only to wonder why a child cannot read. 
The bill responds both to the great needs of parents who seek early 
childhood education, as well as to today's brain science, which shows 
that a child's brain development begins much earlier than had been 
previously understood.
  Considering the staggering cost of day care, the inaccessibility of 
early childhood education and the opportunity that early education 
offers to improve a child's chances of success, schooling for three-and 
four-year-olds is overdue. The absence of viable options for working 
families demands our immediate attention.
  My bill reflects what jurisdictions throughout the nation 
increasingly are trying to accomplish. The District of Columbia, for 
example, has achieved an extensive integration of early childhood 
education as part of a larger effort to improve D.C. public schools. A 
recent report highlighted the economic benefits of early childhood 
education, emphasizing its role in expanding job opportunities and 
decreasing the amount of money spent on programs to address teen 
pregnancy, crime and the like.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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