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Child care and early childhood education

One of the most controversial issues in the past few years has been the growing role of the state in providing childcare and preschool opportunities to North Carolina children. All too often, proponents of highly centralized early childhood programs and services spend more time tugging heartstrings than recommending sound public policy.

Key Facts

• The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Office of School Readiness, oversees five state and federal pre-kindergarten programs — More at Four, Preschool for Exceptional Children, Title I Preschool, Even Start and Head Start. Budgets for these programs totaled $413.3 million in FY 2009-2010.
• More at Four locations typically combine funds and classroom resources with Preschool Exceptional Children, Title I Preschool, Even Start and Head Start programs.
• More at Four is a state pre-kindergarten program for at-risk four-year-old children. In 2009-10, it served 31,197 children and had a budget of over $165.5 million. Over half of the More at Four budget comes from the NC Education Lottery. State appropriations make up the remainder.
• Private childcare providers and public schools are both eligible for More at Four dollars. Facilities are reimbursed at a rate of $5,081 per slot for 2009-10.
• Preschool Exception Children is a state and federal program that serves three-, four-, and five-year-old students with disabilities. It had a budget of approximately $61.5 million for the 2009-10 school year.
• Title I Preschool is a federal program for low-income four-year-old students. In 2009-2010, North Carolina received $61.4 million for Title I programs.
• The $1.5 million federal Even Start program serves low-income families in four areas: early childhood education, adult literacy, parenting education, and parent/child literacy.
• The federal Head Start program is the largest federal pre-kindergarten initiative in North Carolina. In 2009-10, the state received $123.2 million for Head Start. The program included education, nutrition, counseling, and health services.
• The Department of Health and Human Services administers three early childhood and childcare programs. The total budget for the programs was $682 million in 2009-2010.
• The DHHS Division of Child Development oversees the federal Child Care Subsidy and the state Smart Start program.
• In 2009-10, the Child Care Subsidy had a budget of $404 million, not including $61 million from parent fees and $51 million from Smart Start. The Smart Start initiative had a budget of $180 million, which includes $20.6 million for administration and oversight, but not $32 million from private sources.
• The Smart Start initiative is a public/private program that provides childcare subsidies, teacher training, health screenings, and support for families with children from birth to six years old.
• The DHHS Division of Public Health operates the state and federal Early Intervention program. The state spent $77.4 million on these efforts in 2009-10.
• For the 2009-10 school year, North Carolina spent $1.09 billion on early childhood and childcare programs.

Recommendations

1. Eliminate Smart Start and other subsidy programs for childcare and preschool expenses in favor of a refundable Smart Start tax credit for preschool children. For a smaller subset of desperately poor preschoolers who lack functioning parents, a carefully designed state intervention may be justified.
2. Limit regulation of daycare operations to health and safety requirements only. Parents should make their own decisions about the trade-off between price and child/staff ratios or qualifications.
3. Have a qualified, independent research firm redesign and conduct yearly evaluations of Smart Start and More At Four. Longitudinal studies should be conducted to determine if state pre-kindergarten programs produce lasting social and educational benefits as children progress through school.