Return on Public Investments: Early Learning Left Out

1
Return on Public Investments Early Learning Left
Out

• September 15, 2005
• KIDS COUNT Conference
• Deborah Stein
• Director of Policy and Advocacy
• Voices for Americas Children
• www.voicesforamericaschildren.org

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Voices For Americas Childrenand its Members

• Voices represents and supports child advocacy
  organizations in states and localities
• 60 member organizations in 45 states and 12
  cities and communities
• About 2/3 of KIDS COUNT grantees are Voices
  members.

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Voices Members

• Citizen-based, non-profit, professional,
  independent child advocacy organizations
  receiving little or no public funding.
• Multi-issue organizations that view the child as
  a whole.
• Advocates, not direct service providers.

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History of Project

• Voices (then NACA) started a budget project with
  12 states in 1994
• In 1997, as part of that project, Voices decided
  to replicate a national study by Rand in those
  12 states
• Ultimately, in 1998 Voices made this available to
  all its members and members in over 30 states
  chose to participate.

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A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Numbers

• The study measured combined state and federal
  investments in children, by age group
• Results were reported in a chart that graphed
  cumulative investment against brain growth
• This picture really caught policy makers
  attentionand allowed advocates to then explore
  the underinvestment in early years

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2003-5 Early Learning Left Out

• The Center for Child and Family Policy in Iowa,
  Voices, and 11 other Voices members replicated
  this study in 2003, focusing only on investments
  in education and development
• This study looked at 3 age groupsearly years,
  school aged years and college aged years
• We think these two projects are the only studies
  that look at the combined federal and state
  investment.
• A second round of states was released this spring

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Composite 12-State Brain Growth and Public
Investments by Child Age
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Early Learning as a Share of All State Investments
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2005Composite Nine-State District of
ColumbiaPublic Investments Compared to Child
Brain Growth
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Key Findings

• While 85 of a child's core brain structure is
  formed by age three, less than 4 of public
  investments on education and development have
  occurred by that time.
• On a per child basis, public investments in
  education and development are more than seven
  times greater during the school-aged years
  (5,410 per child) than during the early learning
  years (740 per child).
• On a per child basis, public investments in
  education and development are nearly five times
  greater during the college-aged years (3,664 per
  youth/young adult) than during the early learning
  years.
• This means that for every dollar society invests
  in the education and development of a school-aged
  child, society invests only 13.7 cents in that
  child during the earliest learning years a
  major investment gap.

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Key Findings

• This under-investment in young children also
  appears to be greatest for the very earliest and
  most formative years of life (the infant and
  toddler years 02). The largest share of the
  funding for education and development during the
  earliest years comes from federal programs
  (particularly federal funding for child care and
  Head Start), although the reverse predominately
  state/local source of fundingis true for
  school-aged children.
• State investments in education and development in
  the earliest learning years constitute a very
  small percentage of overall public expenditures,
  in many states less than 1.

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Key Findings

• While most states have a number of early learning
  programs, most are small in scale and do not
  provide very comprehensive services or supports.
• Although there are some variations in spending
  across the states all show large investment gaps
  between investments made in the early learning
  years compared with those made in the school-aged
  and college-aged years.

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Research Context of These Findings

• Existing research on early learning needs and
  potential returns on investments provides
  evidence that
• Families with young children are most likely to
  struggle economically and are least able to pay
  for additional educational and developmental
  services.
• Comprehensive, high quality investments in
  education and development in the early years have
  demonstrated high monetary returns-on-investment
  both to government and society in reduced
  social costs and increased economic activity and
  to the individuals served in improved educational
  and economic status.
• There is strong public support and advocacy for
  expanding investments in early learning and
  closing the investment gap, because there is
  evidence of need and the potential for societal
  gains from investments.

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Methods of Dissemination 1997 Study

• Voices surveyed its members in 2002 to determine
  how they had used the 1997 study
• Maine Childrens Alliance met with individuals
  on three different legislative committees. Also
  met with staff of the legislative leaders to
  support committee decisions
• The targeted constituency was legislators and the
  materials were delivered by both CMC Citizens
  for Missouris Children staff and other early
  care and education advocates, usually as a fact
  sheet. This year 2002, we are using it again
  in our annual Kids Count report, as part of our
  discussion about the state budget crisis.

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Methods of Dissemination

• Arizona Childrens Action Alliance used it in
  many venues, including a frequent overhead for
  presentations and included it in a report.
• Citizens Committee for the Children of NY sent
  me copies of their city budget document
  that includes the chart.  It worked great last
  year as a visual -learning tool for elected
  officials. 
• Childrens Advocacy Institute, CA used the
  Study data as part of our annual Children's
  Budget publications in 2000 -2003, as well as
  Voices gathered data and commentary re federal
  spending programs generally.

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Methods of Dissemination

• We Colorado Childrens Campaign have a "Kids
  Caucus" -- an ad hoc committee in the legislature
  that the CCC created and staffs.  We did a
  private briefing for those 15 members and asked
  them their reaction to the study and graph.  We
  asked for their advice about a strategy for
  educating other policy makers.  They were so
  enthusiastic about the graph that we knew we had
  a powerful tool.  They told us that legislators
  are inundated with data, but if we had a proposal
  for policy change and used the data to explain
  our proposal, that the legislative hearing
  environment would be the best place to educate
  them.  

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Methods of Dissemination

• We Kansas Action for Children used the chart as
  the cover on a publication on the policy
  implications of the new brain development
  research. It received an enthusiastic reception
  by the early care and education organizations
  that are our traditional allies, who began using
  it to educate their members. Of greater impact
  was the positive response of policymakers. For
  example, the governor and key legislative leaders
  sponsored a statewide conference on brain
  development research, and the organizers of the
  conference requested enough copies of the report
  to include one in each participant packet. Most
  gratifying was the time that a legislator showed
  a copy of the chart to his colleagues to
  emphasize his point as part of a debate on the
  floor of the House. The chart and publication
  was also used and referred to during committee
  discussion and was distributed widely throughout
  the state

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Methods of Dissemination

• PPC (Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children)
  published a special report in September 1998 for
  policymakers in the General Assembly and
  Executive Branch. PPC conducted a press briefing
  and a briefing for legislators on the report. The
  graph was used in every budget year by PPC during
  legislative briefings to show the inverse
  relationship between brain growth in the early
  years of life and public investment on education,
  services and supports in those years. PPC used
  the report to emphasize the need to redress the
  imbalance in public sector funding to childrens
  early years.

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Outcomes

• In 1998, Citizens for Missouris Children used it
  to help secure 21 million annually for early
  care and education.
• Kansas Action for Children thinks it played
  an important role in creating more attention on
  early childhood issues and paved the way for
  programs such as Smart Start.

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Outcomes

• The Voices paper and PPC (Pennsylvania) paper
  were the seminal intellectual and scientific
  cornerstones to PPCs advocacy agenda that helped
  lead to Pennsylvania investing over 120 million
  over three years in early childhood services and
  supports. The efforts generated widespread
  legislative support, particularly among key
  legislative leaders. The former governors
  administration continued to resist a preschool
  investment, but the impact of the brain paper
  and other support research resonated through the
  2002 gubernatorial election, when both major
  party candidates acknowledged Pennsylvanias
  failure and committed to early learning
  investments. They cited research on brain growth
  in their position papers, news conferences and
  debates. The governor-elect has pledged
  pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-olds and other
  early learning investments.

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Outcomes

• Maine Childrens Alliance used the charts and
  information to support significant funding
  increases for early care and education that
  results in about 12 million for increases in
  child care subsidies, Head Start, etc plus parent
  education and tax incentives as well as
  scholarship funds and general support for
  improving quality child care this was Start Me
  Right

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Outcomes

• From that advice we Colorado Childrens
  Campaign proposed that state government
  consolidate the 24 different federal and
  state funding streams that distract child care
  programs from quality improvements, teacher
  training, etc.  This became the Colorado
  Consolidated Child Care Pilot Project, a child
  care reform effort that has received national
  attention and has generated additional public and
  private funding for child care serving low income
  children.

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Outcomes (Indirect)

• At that time, we had a Governor who was a child
  advocate. He was already on board. In fact, his
  budget staff helped us with the project. The
  governor was so interested in the budget analysis
  that after we were done with our project, he
  asked his budget director to look at the entire
  state budget and quantify the percent of public
  funding that goes into prevention programs for
  all ages of children and youth versus treatment
  and crisis intervention. Out of this came the
  figure 10/90. Ten percent of Colorado state
  funding (excluding K-12) goes toward prevention
  and early intervention programs. Ninety percent
  goes into treatment and crisis intervention. The
  Governor presented this analysis at the NGA
  annual meeting in 1999. I still get calls about
  it from Governor's Offices in other states.

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Reason for Effectiveness

• Voices members identified the visual
  effectiveness of the chart as key
• It was a good graphic way to clearly show that
  spending priorities for kids was out of sync.
  Arizona

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Reason for Effectiveness

• We Colorado found that the impact came from 1)
  the credibility it gave our organization 2) the
  training it let us give our grassroots network
  because if gave them evidence-based talking
  points 3) the media will almost always cover a
  new set of data on an issue and we were able to
  create statewide and local media stories with the
  graph and 4) legislators asked us what it meant
  and what we suggested they do about the
  findings. 

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2003 and 2005 Report Release

• Did not attract national media
• Has drawn significant notice from national policy
  organizations
• Did draw attention where released in the states

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Dissemination Methods2003 Study at State Levels

• The data was used and disseminated by the Arizona
  Governor's State School Readiness Board to
  demonstrate the importance of early care and
  education. Children's Action Alliance, AZ
• We did use it in fact sheets prepared for the
  legislature and in presentations given at various
  advocacy days. No cuts were made in state
  investment in early care. The chart will also be
  included in at least one publication being
  prepared by our state Child Family Policy
  Center. (MO)

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Methods of Dissemination2003 Study in States

• We did not do a big release of it (yet), because
  there was too much else going on at that time,
  and no significant budget decisions coming up in
  the legislature relating to early education.
  However, we distributed copies to various groups,
  including the early education subcommittee of a
  special committee that the Governor set up to
  make recommendations relating to school
  financing. The subcommittee and full committee
  made a number of recommendations to help expand
  funding for and access to four-year-old
  kindergarten, and those recommendations were
  endorsed by the Governor last month when he
  announced his Kids First initiatives (most of
  which will have to be implemented in the next
  biennial budget). I can't say with any
  confidence that the report played a key role in
  achieving that outcome, but I think it helped.
  (WI)

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Methods of Dissemination2003 Study in States

• We released the report along with a report that
  we produced on state spending on early education
  and care (as part of our Budget Watch project),
  and the Early Learning report was the lead, and
  caught the attention of the media. We are
  continuing to use the data in our work with the
  Governor's Children's Action Network, that is
  developing a plan for a universal system of care
  for children ages 0 to 5. It is very useful
  groundwork for our early childhood efforts in
  Michigan.

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Methods of Dissemination2003 Study in States

• We shared this data with the Sioux Falls business
  community at our Spring Seminar on "Early
  Childhood Investment Economic Development". We
  also shared it with Sioux Fall's Tomorrow as they
  completed their 10 year visioning process for our
  community and it encouraged them to add a goal
  calling for full access to quality preK and
  quality child care. Next month we plan to
  present to the Legislative Taskforce on
  Childcare. We have also shared it with a number
  of other groups (SD Alliance for Child Care,
  Economic Impact of Child Care Advisory Group,
  Family Voices, etc.) and it is always well
  received. (SD)

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Outcomes from New Study

• Too early to have a full picture
• In states that produced the report, useful tool
• Even in states that were not included in the
  report, its been helpful