Letter to the Honorable Thad Cochran, Chairman of Senate Committee on Appropriations, and the Honorable Roy Blunt, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human - Expanding Louisiana Preschools

Letter

Dear Chairman Cochran, Vice Chairwoman Mikulski, Chairman Blunt and Ranking Member Murray:

As you and your colleagues begin to work on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 appropriations bills, we ask that you include $750 million for Preschool Development Grants to support state and local efforts to improve access to high-quality preschool.

In 2014, 18 states out of 36 applicants were awarded four-year Preschool Development Grants that will help an additional 18,000 children access high quality early learning. The funding requested for FY 2016 will not only meet the FY 2015 funding commitment for these existing grants, but will provide a new opportunity for the other 18 states that did not receive a grant, and to other states that have moved to expand quality early learning but have not yet applied for the grants. In the last year alone, 28 states increased their investment in early learning.

There is a tremendous unmet need for high-quality early learning throughout the country. Today, fewer than three in ten 4-year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program, despite the growing body of evidence supporting a robust investment in early learning.

Children who attend high-quality preschool are better prepared for school, less likely to be retained in grade, score higher on reading and math assessments in the elementary grades, and are more likely to graduate from high school than children who do not attend such programs. Furthermore, these benefits are particularly strong for children from low-income families.

However, for children in the United States who do attend preschool, the quality of these programs varies widely and access to high-quality programs is even more limited in low-income communities. The United States currently ranks 25th among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations in public spending on early learning, a number that must change if we want to maintain our position as a global economic leader.

Every public dollar spent on high-quality preschool returns up to $16 through a reduced need for spending on other services, such as remedial education, grade repetition, and special education, as well as increased productivity and earnings for these children as adults. Investing in Preschool Development Grants now will help our children reach their full potential as they grow.

We urge you to consider the benefits of this investment, and we thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,