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June 24, 2011

Dear Governor:

We  are writing to make you aware of important new opportunities available to States  for strengthening early learning and development and putting the nation on a  path to improved outcomes for children from birth to age five.  In May, we were proud to announce a  significant new investment in early learning:  the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge  (RTT-ELC) – a $500 million competitive grant program to be jointly administered  by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human  Services (HHS).  This letter provides  additional information about the RTT-ELC competition and its connection with  other efforts to improve the quality of early learning and development programs.

We  expect to publish the RTT-ELC notice inviting applications in the *Federal Register* late this summer and  accept applications in the fall, and will award grants by December 31.  Information on the RTT-ELC competition is  available at:  http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge/index.html. We will update this site as new  information becomes available.  It also includes  a dedicated blog so that the public may provide input.  By July, we plan to release more information  about the RTT-ELC competition and make it available on this site.

The RTT-ELC competition is a powerful tool that will help highly committed States  move forward on providing more children from birth to age five from low-income  families – with access to high-quality early learning and development programs.  As with the first  two rounds of Race to the Top, the bar to receive an RTT-ELC grant will be set high.

Through  the RTT-ELC, we want to support breakthrough work that dramatically improves  the quality of early learning and development programs.  States applying for RTT-ELC grants will need  to propose a bold plan to increase the proportion of children from birth to age  five from low-income families that are in high-quality early learning and  development programs and enter kindergarten ready to learn.  The competition will focus on key reforms,  including aligning early childhood resources and systems and improving early  learning and development standards and assessment, program standards, tiered  rating and improvement systems, and early childhood educators.  We will be looking to fund applications that  demonstrate courage, commitment, capacity, and creativity.

The  RTT-ELC competition will provide incentives and funding to strengthen early  learning and development programs, but, by itself, it will not be enough to  transform State early learning systems.   Its real power will lie in its ability to help States leverage, directly  or indirectly, other State and Federal funding streams, such as the Child Care  and Development Fund (CCDF); Early Head Start and Head Start programs; and the  Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, as well as the  funding provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and  Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended.

To  help jump-start your efforts, HHS’s Office of Child Care recently released the  final Child CCDF Plan Pre-Print for fiscal years 2012-2013.  The pre-print serves as the State’s  application for CCDF funds and provides an opportunity for States to consider  their current efforts to promote high-quality early learning and development and  engage programs in a planning process for the future.  We anticipate that the RTT-ELC grant competition  will consider how States plan to use CCDF funds, especially through State  initiatives to improve quality.   Successful RTT-ELC applicants will use the CCDF Plan to set forth a  strategic plan for helping more children from low-income families access higher  quality care.  CCDF Plans are due on  August 1, 2011, but HHS will accept revisions as you finalize your RTT-ELC  applications.

As  you begin the joint planning necessary for submitting a competitive RTT-ELC  application, we encourage you to engage a wide range of stakeholders, including  representatives from the early childhood community; officials from State  agencies or departments responsible for education, special education, early  intervention, child care, human services, and health; your chief State school  officer; your Head Start Collaboration Director; and chairs of your State  Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care (SAC) or similar  organization.  You may want to build on  the efforts already under way in your SAC.

Sincerely,



/s/
      /s/Arne Duncan
      Kathleen SebeliusSecretary of Education
      Secretary of Health & Human Services




|cc: | Chief State School Officers                                        
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|    | State CCDF Lead Agency Officials                                   
|    | State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care Chairs