It's Not Just About More Money: Early Care and Education Finance Reform
By Louise Stoney
November
2002
Summary: Various financing strategies for early care and education are explored. It is suggested that funding should be layered. Funding possibilities include: parent fees, employer subsidy, community foundation, Child Care and Development Fund, preschool, Head Start, and Child and Adult Care Food Program. Steps that can be taken to support layered funding are highlighted. Early care and education policy needs to recognize that portable and direct subsidies are not substitutes for one another but should be combined. The various ways that States are funding child care are listed (e.g., a beer surcharge, tobacco settlement funds, the lottery, the Gaming Commission Fund, a surcharge on cigarettes). Several graphs are presented for illustration including a vision of a new financing system, how child care is a vital part of the local economy in Tompkins County, NY, and the economic impact of child care subsidies.
Index Terms: Child Care, Early Childhood Education, Economic Impact, Financing Strategies, Subsidized Child Care, Child Care Costs, Equal Access, Family Friendly Policies, State Funding, States, Tax Credits, Taxing Authority
Publisher: Alliance for Early Childhood Finance
Publication Type: Conference papers
Pages: 36 pages
Language: English
Availability
Alliance for Early Childhood Finance
c/o Early Childhood Policy Research
1250 Honey Hollow Road
Climax,
New York
12042
518-966-4585
FAX: 518-966-5503
http://www.earlychildhoodfinance.org/