Federal support for early childhood programs and child care has expanded, which is especially important to low-income families.
The Issue
Federal funding for early childhood education and care promotes three overarching policy goals: (1) increasing children’s access to services; (2) raising the quality of early childhood programs; and (3) fostering greater coordination among the many providers—public schools, center-based child care, home-based child care, Head Start, and more—of early childhood services.
This report summarizes 17 selected federal programs that are particularly important for early childhood education and care:
—Seven programs for which early childhood education and/or care is the sole purpose. These programs are dedicated exclusively to supporting early childhood education and/or child care.
—Ten programs for which early childhood education and/or care is an allowable use. These programs are not dedicated exclusively to supporting early childhood education and/or child care, but significant portions of their funding are used for that purpose.