America’s Governors Propose Nearly $3 Billion in Early Childhood Investments

Today, the Center for American Progress released an issue brief showcasing governors are committed to investing in early learning for their states. The brief provides state-by-state numbers on both Democratic and Republican governors’ state budget proposals for child care, preschool, home visiting programs, and more.

As we saw in governor’s state of the state addresses, this important funding will help states ensure the early learning and care opportunities they’re creating are supporting their youngest learners with quality education and developmental support.

Key findings from CAP’s analysis include:

• 32 governors proposed a total of $2.9 billion in increased funding for early learning programs
  • This amount is:
    • More than last year’s federal increase for CCDBG ($2.37 billion)
    • Almost one-third of annual federal Head Start funding
    • More than 7x annual federal MIECHV funding
    • Enough to provide high-quality child care for approximately 145,000 toddlers for a year or home visiting services for  approximately 445,000 families
    • Approximately $123 for every child under 6
• Preschool programs accounted for the bulk of proposed funding increases—with smaller requests for infant and toddler child care and home visiting programs.
• Governors are stepping up to fill gaps in federal investment: While CCDBG funding has steadily increased, the amount of new investment from governors demonstrates that states still need more to fix their child care systems

These proposed funding increases demonstrate a growing recognition of the importance of early learning opportunities. However, if we, as a nation, want to ensure all children have access to high-quality early learning, there must be strong support and partnerships from the federal government to extend the reach or fill in the gaps of state efforts and innovation.

Read the full issue brief here.