S.20.3-6: Access to Early Childhood Education Act (Law'd)

[tmthforu94]

Access to Early Childhood Education Act

Section 1. Title
i. The title of this act shall be the "Access to Early Childhood Education Act"
ii. The purpose of this legislation is to establish a early childhood education fund

Section 2. Definitions
i. The "early childhood education and care program fund" is created as a fund in the state treasury. The fund consists of distributions, appropriations, gifts, grants, donations.
ii. The early childhood education and care department shall administer the fund. Money in the fund is subject to appropriation by the legislature for early childhood education and care services and programs.

Section 3. Authorization
i. The fund may be utilized when a parent/guardian invests in preschool education across the South
ii. The fund shall be utilized for school/daycare related expenses
iii. A maximum amount of $2,000 may be distributed per child, with the family's total income being a consideration
iv. The fund shall not exceed an amount of $6 billion

Sponsor: Spark498

Minimum 48 hours for debate. The sponsor is invited to advocate for the bill.

[Senator-elect Spark]

The purpose of this legislation is to encourage and set the groundwork for universal pre-K education for all of our children in the Southern region.

[tmthforu94]

How will this be funded?

[Senator-elect Spark]

How will this be funded?

Section 2. Definitions
i. The "early childhood education and care program fund" is created as a fund in the state treasury. The fund consists of distributions, appropriations, gifts, grants, donations.

[thumb21]

I think this is a sensible policy, though my question would be whether or not $1 million is enough?

[Senator-elect Spark]

I think this is a sensible policy, though my question would be whether or not $1 million is enough?

That amount should be debated. We can come to a consensus.

[tmthforu94]

Does anyone have a proposal on what to amend to? I read this CNBC article stating that nationally, $42 billion is spend on preschool, which could be a place to start. I don't necessarily support restricting usage of private schools, but I do think we may want to impose a per-child cap on this as well.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/27/parents-spending-42-billion-on-early-child-care-each-year.html#:~:text=However%2C%20the%202018%20consumer%20expenditures,a%20year%20on%20these%20costs.

[Senator-elect Spark]

Does anyone have a proposal on what to amend to? I read this CNBC article stating that nationally, $42 billion is spend on preschool, which could be a place to start. I don't necessarily support restricting usage of private schools, but I do think we may want to impose a per-child cap on this as well.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/27/parents-spending-42-billion-on-early-child-care-each-year.html#:~:text=However%2C%20the%202018%20consumer%20expenditures,a%20year%20on%20these%20costs.

I am not opposed to that.

[tmthforu94]

Does anyone have a proposal on what to amend to? I read this CNBC article stating that nationally, $42 billion is spend on preschool, which could be a place to start. I don't necessarily support restricting usage of private schools, but I do think we may want to impose a per-child cap on this as well.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/27/parents-spending-42-billion-on-early-child-care-each-year.html#:~:text=However%2C%20the%202018%20consumer%20expenditures,a%20year%20on%20these%20costs.

I am not opposed to that.

Not opposed to what? The cap on amount per kid?

[Senator-elect Spark]

Does anyone have a proposal on what to amend to? I read this CNBC article stating that nationally, $42 billion is spend on preschool, which could be a place to start. I don't necessarily support restricting usage of private schools, but I do think we may want to impose a per-child cap on this as well.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/27/parents-spending-42-billion-on-early-child-care-each-year.html#:~:text=However%2C%20the%202018%20consumer%20expenditures,a%20year%20on%20these%20costs.

I am not opposed to that.

Not opposed to what? The cap on amount per kid?

An amendment in its entirety.

[Senator-elect Spark]

What do we think a fair cap per child would be?

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

This is a great idea. While I am not sure about the exact amount, I suggest that we over invest in education as opposed to under invest. $1 spent on early childhood education has massive dividends later on!

[tmthforu94]

$1,000 limit per child?

[Senator-elect Spark]

$1,000 limit per child?

That is a good baseline.

[thumb21]

$1000 appears reasonable given the fiscal constraints. I'm still not sure exactly where I'd put the total size of the fund. I found a useful source for statistics that could help us determine a number but because of computer issues I'll have to find it again soon. My initial suggestion is we should go at least over a billion. I'd argue it's a cost worth paying, education  is an absolute priority.

[tmthforu94]

Offering this amendment, 24 hours for objections:

Access to Early Childhood Education Act

Section 1. Title
i. The title of this act shall be the "Access to Early Childhood Education Act"
ii. The purpose of this legislation is to establish a early childhood education fund

Section 2. Definitions
i. The "early childhood education and care program fund" is created as a fund in the state treasury. The fund consists of distributions, appropriations, gifts, grants, donations.
ii. The early childhood education and care department shall administer the fund. Money in the fund is subject to appropriation by the legislature for early childhood education and care services and programs.

Section 3. Authorization
i. The fund may be utilized when a parent/guardian wishes to send their child to a preschool across the South
ii. The fund shall be utilized for school/daycare related expenses
iii. A maximum amount of $1,000 may be distributed per child
iv. The fund shall not exceed an amount of $1 million

[tmthforu94]

The amendment has been adopted, debate resumes.

[tmthforu94]

Proposing another amendment since no one is really acting on this:

Access to Early Childhood Education Act

Section 1. Title
i. The title of this act shall be the "Access to Early Childhood Education Act"
ii. The purpose of this legislation is to establish a early childhood education fund

Section 2. Definitions
i. The "early childhood education and care program fund" is created as a fund in the state treasury. The fund consists of distributions, appropriations, gifts, grants, donations.
ii. The early childhood education and care department shall administer the fund. Money in the fund is subject to appropriation by the legislature for early childhood education and care services and programs.

Section 3. Authorization
i. The fund may be utilized when a parent/guardian wishes to send their child to a preschool across the South
ii. The fund shall be utilized for school/daycare related expenses
iii. A maximum amount of $1,000 may be distributed per child, with the family's total income being a consideration
iv. The fund shall not exceed an amount of $1 million$6 billion

Rough calculations would indicate that approximately $18 billion is being spent by Southerners for preschool. This bill isn't fully subsidizing this, plus higher income Southerners disproportionately use more daycare, and I think there should be income considerations on who receives this. That is why I went with 1/3 of the total amount being spent.


24 hours for objections.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

I agree with and support tmth's amendment.

[tmthforu94]

The amendment is adopted.

Any more feedback before proceeding to a final vote?

[thumb21]

I think that 6 billion is a good number though I think that if we are going that high, it might be worth also increasing the cap on money that can be sent.

These statistics are useful: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d19/tables/dt19_202.10.asp

Of 8.1 million 3-4 year olds across the country, probably around 3.3 million in the South, (around 40% I believe); 4.1 million are enrolled in pre-schools, or around 1.6 million in the South. Lets say maybe optimistically that 500k new children are sent to pre-school as a result of this funding, we would have 6 billion to distribute for 2.1 million children meaning we could afford quite a bit above $1000, especially considering that that's just the maximum, not the average.

[thumb21]

Amendment that would increase the cap. This would allow a larger portion of costs to be covered, particularly for students from lower income families. Read my post above for more justification.

Access to Early Childhood Education Act

Section 1. Title
i. The title of this act shall be the "Access to Early Childhood Education Act".
ii. The purpose of this legislation is to establish a early childhood education fund.

Section 2. Definitions
i. The "early childhood education and care program fund" is created as a fund in the state treasury. The fund consists of distributions, appropriations, gifts, grants, donations.
ii. The early childhood education and care department shall administer the fund. Money in the fund is subject to appropriation by the legislature for early childhood education and care services and programs.

Section 3. Authorization
i. The fund may be utilized when a parent/guardian wishes to send their child to a preschool across the South.
ii. The fund shall be utilized for school/daycare related expenses.
iii. A maximum amount of $1,000 $2,000 may be distributed per child, with the family's total income being a consideration.
iv. The fund shall not exceed an amount of $6 billion.

I'm not married to $2000 and if people prefer it to be lower, we can come to a consensus on that but I wanted to start a discussion on a higher cap, which I believe we can well afford.

[tmthforu94]

24 hours for objections. Personally I am supportive of this amendment.

[reagente]

I like the bill so far, but I'm curious: would this fund be available for those who pursue homeschooling?

[Senator-elect Spark]

I like the bill so far, but I'm curious: would this fund be available for those who pursue homeschooling?

Yes. The fund should be made available to cover these educational expenses.