HELENA, Mont. – School is back in session, but not for many of Montana's preschool-age children this year.

After the state Legislature funded a two-year preschool pilot program in 2017, lawmakers were unable to come up with a deal this year to continue backing early childhood education, setting Montana back into a pool of only six states that don't provide funding for preschool.

Thale Dillon, a researcher at the University of Montana's Bureau of Business and Economic Research, says studies show children who attend quality preschool do better in school later on.

"The thing about having universal pre-K is that it puts everybody on an equal footing,” Dillon points out. “It doesn't favor those who can afford to pay for preschool rather than daycare."

Two deals to fund preschool fizzled in the Legislature over fights about whether the funding should go to both public and private programs.

In the two years before Montana's pilot in 2017, about 58% or 14,000 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds were not in school, according to The Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Without a preschool option, many parents will rely on day care.

While Dillon notes day care is important, especially for working parents such as herself, she says workers are not typically trained in early childhood education, meaning they aren't setting up children for school the way a quality education program would.

"The programs that they have are not on par with what universal pre-K would be like, which is more of like a focused, curriculum-based learning environment," she states.

The 2017 pilot provided about 1,400 spots through funding to 10 school districts and seven private providers.


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BOISE, Idaho -- The Build Back Better Act could provide universal pre-K to states, including those such as Idaho that currently don't fund school before kindergarten.

Idaho is one of six states that don't. As the bill is written now, the federal government would cover 100% of school costs for three and four-year-olds until 2025, when states would gradually be required to match funds.

Beth Oppenheimer, executive director of the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children, said states would have the option to say no.

"In Idaho, that obviously remains to be seen in regards to if the state will choose to opt out or if the state will choose to participate in this program," Oppenheimer noted.

Under the current proposal, states would put forth plans on how they would use funding. Oppenheimer pointed out the funding could go to a variety of options, including public and private programs and Head Start. The Build Back Better Act could get a vote next week.

The early childhood initiative, which totals nearly $400 billion over six years, also includes provisions to improve the quality and affordability of child care.

Oppenheimer stressed child care and preschool complement each other and pointed out child care plays an especially important role in Idaho.

"Let's remember that the state does not have a state pre-K system, and so child care is serving as our pre-K system in this state," Oppenheimer observed.

Oppenheimer also emphasized how important child care is for the economy. Low pay in the industry has made it hard to compete for workers, leading to shortages and costs many families cannot afford.

She added the low pay also makes it hard for child-care workers to afford things such as housing; already hard to find in places like Boise.

"All of these pieces of this puzzle create this inability to be able to hire and retain a workforce that is built and designed to support other workforces," Oppenheimer explained.

The goal of the early childhood initiative is to subsidize child care, so no family is spending more than 7% of its annual income on care.

HOLYOKE, Mass. - With the school year in full swing for Massachusetts K-through-12 students, many parents are seeking early-childhood education and care for their younger kids. Recent U.S. Census Bureau surveys show more than 2 million Americans took unpaid leave to care for a child in the last month.

Steve Huntley, executive director of Valley Opportunity Council in Holyoke, said their early learning and care programs, which are subsidized for eligible families, shut down for a few months at the start of the pandemic - but as soon as they reopened, the demand was there.

"It was in part because they felt safe with with us, etc.," he said. "But it was more importantly that it was out of necessity for them to get back to work. We continue to see folks truly needing our centers in order to keep their employment, to keep their jobs."

Valley Opportunity Council is among 23 community action agencies working to end poverty in the state. Huntley said they put high priority on high-quality programs so children in working-class families have the same educational opportunities as those in more affluent families.

Birgitta Damon, chief executive of Lynn Economic Opportunity, Inc., runs the Head Start and early Head Start programs in Lynn. She said these federal programs prepare kids for kindergarten by assessing their developmental, social and emotional, and academic needs. While theirs has long been a critical service for many families, the pandemic has led to more kids experiencing isolation and disruption from their usual routines.

"We also provide nutrition services, health services," said Damon, who also is board president of the Massachusetts Association for Community Action (MASSCAP). "We do 11 assessments during the school year to ensure that children are on a path for school readiness, to enter kindergarten."

Damon added that if a child shows signs of needing additional support, Head Start programs refer families to local agencies, pediatricians or the public school systems for Individualized Education Programs. Low-income families can find out if there are spots in local Head Start or child-care programs by contacting their local community action agency.

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Gov. Tom Wolf signed the new state budget last week, which includes a historic $416 million increase in public-education funding.

While the investment was praised by some, child-care providers say the budget missed the mark in their field. They also want to ensure the $1.2 billion dollars the state received from the American Rescue Plan for child-care centers gets to them as soon as possible.

Jen DeBell, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children, said child-care line items got no state-budget increases despite being devastated by the pandemic, so the federal funds are critical.

"We've seen almost 700 programs close, and more than 360 are still temporarily closed," DeBell observed. "So, we don't want to see those numbers driven up because the money isn't going out quick enough."

Some areas she'd like to see receive increased funding include hiring or retention bonuses to help centers build back staff lost in the pandemic. DeBell noted the average child-care teacher in Pennsylvania makes $10.69 an hour.

Nancy Frederick, director of The Learning Center at Third Street Alliance, a child-care center in Northampton County, said they've been struggling to hire teachers, making it difficult to increase classroom size to meet the growing need.

She argued government support is necessary for them to increase pay and offer teachers a living wage, and stressed the importance of high-quality early learning.

"I think the state and federal support financially there would be greatly put into use," Frederick asserted. "Because they are really getting students early on, where they can make a difference and build those connections before they even go to the public school, or whatever school they go to once they are the age of five or six."

Frederick added she also hopes to see funds for expanding what's known as the Infant/Toddler Contracted Slots Program, which provides free child care for children of eligible families, up to age three.