[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 139 (Tuesday, August 27, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1078-E1079]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF THE UNIVERSAL PREKINDERGARTEN AND EARLY CHILDHOOD 
                         EDUCATION ACT OF 2019

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 27, 2019

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce a bill similar to one I 
have introduced in six previous Congresses, the Universal 
Prekindergarten and Early Childhood Education Act of 2019. My bill 
would establish and expand prekindergarten programs in public and 
public charter schools 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 for the nation 
to fill a gap 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 seeks a breakthrough in public education by providing funding 
for states to add prekindergarten for children at three and four years 
of age, like kindergarten programs for five-year-olds now routinely 
available in public schools. This bill would eliminate 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 of a 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 
for 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 some 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

[[Page E1079]]

to 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 allow the most fertile years for childhood 
development to pass unenriched. My 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 and crime.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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