Early Care
Kids Facts Answer:
25% of Missouri Children are considered "not ready" by their teachers when they enter kindergarten.
Children's earliest years are critical for learning and development. The foundations for success in school are laid before the child ever steps into a classroom. One component known to improve school readiness is a quality early care and education experience.
Why Early Care and Education Is Important:
- Research has shown that by age five, 90% of a child's brain structure has been built. During the first years of life, the brain is forming connections that may determine a lifetime of skills and potential.
- Pre-School Education has long term benefits for children:
- Better long-term education outcomes
- Better employment and earnings outcomes in adulthood
- Better economic and family stability outcomes in adulthood
- Lower criminal activity outcomes
- Missouri missing the mark in child care and early education:
- Missouri's eligibility level for child care subsidies is the lowest in the nation. A mother with an infant and a preschool age child must earn less than $17,784 per year to qualify for a child care subsidy.
- Even with these restrictive limits we serve only 12% of eligible families and only about half of those who need paid care.
- In FY04 $106 million federal dollars and $59 million states dollars were allocated to provide child care subsidies to over 46,000 children in Missouri.
In addition, many programs designed to improve quality in early care are funded with money from gaming boat admissions fees, and some groups want to divert these revenues for other purposes. The early care funding currently supports:
- 652 babies in Early Head Start with a waiting list of 593 children
- Incentives for program accreditation: Only 10% of the state's programs are accredited
- Grants to 185 programs to pursue accreditation, but there are 501 still waiting to apply
- Parents of children under 3 who stay at home: 32 grants have been awarded to community initiatives — 418 programs are waiting to apply
- Missouri Preschool Project sites: Over 160 sites operating across the state
What Missouri Can Do:
- Promote Missouri Preschool Project Expansion
- Promote the Quality Rating System
- Promote Head Start Funding
- Establish differential rates for licensed care
- Increase the eligibility for subsidized child care
- Protect gaming boat admissions fees and other funding
- Support efforts to reauthorize the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG)
