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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 749

To establish a program to provide financial assistance to States and local

entities to support early learning programs for prekindergarten children,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 25, 1999

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. STEVENS, Mr. DODD, Mr. JEFFORDS, and

Mr. KERRY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To establish a program to provide financial assistance to

States and local entities to support early learning programs for prekindergarten children, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Early Learning Trust

5 Fund Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
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1 (1) brain development research shows that the

2 first 3 years of a child’s life are critical to a child’s

3 brain development and the child’s future success;

4 (2) high quality early learning programs can in5 crease the literacy rate, the high school graduation

6 rate, the employment rate, and the college enroll7 ment rate for prekindergarten children who partici8 pate in the programs;

9 (3) high quality early learning programs can

10 decrease the incidence of teenage pregnancy, welfare

11 dependency, arrest, and juvenile delinquency for chil12 dren who participate in these programs;

13 (4) high quality early learning programs can

14 provide a strong base for prekindergarten children in

15 language and cognitive skills and can motivate the

16 children to learn to read in order to benefit from

17 classroom instruction;

18 (5) many working families cannot afford early

19 learning programs for their prekindergarten chil20 dren;

21 (6) only 36 percent of children who are between

22 the ages of 3 and 5, not enrolled in kindergarten,

23 and living in families in which the parents earn less

24 than $15,000, are enrolled in prekindergarten, while

25 61 percent of children of a similar age who live in
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1 families in which the parents earn $50,000 or more

2 are enrolled in prekindergarten;

3 (7) because of the growing number of pre4 kindergarten children in single-parent families or

5 families in which both parents work, there is a great

6 need for affordable high quality, full day, full cal7 endar year early learning programs;

8 (8) many children who could benefit from a

9 strong early learning experience are enrolled in child

10 care programs that could use additional resources to

11 prepare the children to enter school ready to suc12 ceed; and

13 (9) the low salaries paid to staff in early learn14 ing programs, the lack of career progression for such

15 staff, and the lack of child development specialists

16 involved in the early learning programs makes it dif17 ficult to attract and retain trained staff to help the

18 children enter school ready to read.

19 (b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this Act are—

20 (1) to make widely available to prekindergarten

21 children a high quality, child-centered, develop22 mentally appropriate early learning program;

23 (2) to make widely available to parents of pre24 kindergarten children who desire the services, a full
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1 day, full calendar year program in which they can

2 enroll their prekindergarten children;

3 (3) to make efficient use of Federal, State, and

4 local resources for early learning programs by pro5 moting collaboration and coordination of such pro6 grams and supports at the Federal, State, and local

7 levels;

8 (4) to assist State and local governments in ex9 panding or improving early learning programs that

10 use existing facilities that meet State and local safe11 ty code requirements;

12 (5) to provide resources to ensure that all chil13 dren enter elementary school ready to learn how to

14 read; and

15 (6) to assist State and local governments in

16 providing training for teachers and staff of early

17 learning programs, and to promote the use of salary

18 scales that take into account training and experi19 ence.

20 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

21 In this Act:

22 (1) EARLY LEARNING PROGRAMS.—The term

23 ‘‘early learning programs’’ means programs that

24 provide the services described in section 9 that are
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1 for children who have not attended kindergarten or

2 elementary school.

3 (2) FULL CALENDAR YEAR.—The term ‘‘full

4 calendar year’’ means all days of operation of busi5 nesses in the locality, excluding—

6 (A) legal public holidays, as defined in sec7 tion 6103 of title 5, United States Code; and

8 (B) a single period of 14 consecutive days

9 during the summer.

10 (3) FULL DAY.—The term ‘‘full day’’ means the

11 hours of normal operation of businesses in the local12 ity.

13 (4) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY; STATE EDU14 CATIONAL AGENCY.—The terms ‘‘local educational

15 agency’’ and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the

16 meanings given the terms in section 14101 of the

17 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

18 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

19 (5) LOCALITY.—The term ‘‘locality’’ means a

20 city, county, borough, township, or other general

21 purpose unit of local government, or an Indian res22 ervation or Indian Tribe. For purposes of this Act,

23 2 or more localities acting together may be consid24 ered a locality.
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1 (6) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ means a bio2 logical parent, an adoptive parent, a stepparent, or

3 a foster parent of a child, including a legal guardian

4 or other person standing in loco parentis.

5 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

6 the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

7 (8) SERVICE PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘service

8 provider’’ means any public or private early learning

9 program, including a local educational agency, a

10 Head Start agency under the Head Start Act (42

11 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.), or a community-based organi12 zation that receives funds under this Act.

13 (9) TRAINING.—The term ‘‘training’’ means in14 struction in early childhood development that—

15 (A) is required for certification by existing

16 State and local laws, regulations, and policies;

17 (B) is required to receive a nationally rec18 ognized credential or its equivalent, such as the

19 child development associate credential, in a

20 State with no certification procedure; and

21 (C) is received in a postsecondary edu22 cation program in which the individual has ac23 complished significant course work in early

24 childhood education or early childhood develop25 ment.
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1 SEC. 4. EARLY LEARNING PROGRAM.

2 The Secretary shall establish and maintain an early

3 learning program that provides full day, full calendar year

4 early learning services.

5 SEC. 5. STATE ALLOTMENTS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make allot7 ments to eligible States to pay for the cost of enabling

8 the States and localities to establish full day, full calendar

9 year early learning programs.

10 (b) ALLOTMENTS.—From the amount appropriated

11 under section 12 for each fiscal year, the Secretary shall

12 allot, to each eligible State, an amount that bears the

13 same relationship to the amount appropriated as the total

14 number of individuals under age 6 in the State bears to

15 the total number of such individuals in all States.

16 (c) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary may

17 not make a grant to a State under subsection (a) unless

18 that State agrees that, with respect to the costs to be in19 curred by the State in carrying out the program for which

20 the grant was awarded, the State will make available (di21 rectly or through donations from public or private entities)

22 non-Federal contributions in an amount equal to not less

23 than $1 dollar for every $4 dollars of Federal funds pro24 vided under the grant. The State share of the cost may

25 be provided in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, including

26 plant, equipment, or services.
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1 (d) ANNUAL REVIEW.—The allotments provided

2 under subsection (b) shall be subject to annual review by

3 the Secretary.

4 SEC. 6. STATE APPLICATIONS.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive an allot6 ment under section 5, the Governor of a State shall submit

7 an application to the Secretary at such time, in such man8 ner, and containing such information as the Secretary may

9 reasonably require.

10 (b) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted pursu11 ant to subsection (a) shall include—

12 (1) a statement ensuring that the Governor of

13 the State has established or designated a State

14 Council that complies with section 7(c), including a

15 list of the members of the State Council in order to

16 demonstrate such compliance;

17 (2) a statement ensuring that the State Council

18 as described in section 7(c) has developed and ap19 proved the application submitted under this section;

20 (3) a statement describing the manner in which

21 the State will allocate funds made available through

22 the allotment to localities; and

23 (4) a State plan that describes the performance

24 goals to be achieved, and the performance measures
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1 to be used to assess progress toward such goals,

2 under the plan which—

3 (A) shall be developed pursuant to guid4 ance provided by the State and local govern5 ment authorities, and experts in early childhood

6 development; and

7 (B) shall be designed to improve child de8 velopment through—

9 (i) improved access to and increased

10 coordination with health care services;

11 (ii) increased access to enhanced early

12 learning environments;

13 (iii) increased parental involvement;

14 (iv) increased rates of accreditation by

15 nationally recognized accreditation organi16 zations; and

17 (v) expansion of full day, full year

18 services.

19 SEC. 7. STATE ADMINISTRATION.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive assistance

21 under section 5, the Governor of a State shall appoint a

22 Lead State Agency as described in subsection (b) and,

23 after consultation with the leadership of the State legisla24 ture, a State Council as described in subsection (c).

25 (b) LEAD STATE AGENCY.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Lead State Agency as

2 described in subsection (a) shall allocate funds re3 ceived under section 5 to localities.

4 (2) LIMITATION.—The Lead State Agency shall

5 allocate not less than 90 percent of such funds that

6 have been provided to the State for a fiscal year to

7 1 or more localities.

8 (3) FUNCTIONS OF AGENCY.—In addition to al9 locating funds under paragraph (1), the Lead State

10 agency shall—

11 (A) advise and assist localities in the per12 formance of their duties;

13 (B) develop and submit the State applica14 tion and the State plan required under section

15 6;

16 (C) evaluate and approve applications sub17 mitted by localities;

18 (D) prepare and submit to the Secretary

19 an annual report, after approval by the State

20 Council, which shall include a statement de21 scribing the manner in which funds received

22 under section 5 are expended and documenta23 tion of the increased number of—
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1 (i) children in full day, full year Head

2 Start programs, as provided under the

3 Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.);

4 (ii) infants and toddlers in programs

5 that provide comprehensive Early Head

6 Start services, as provided under the Head

7 Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.);

8 (iii) prekindergarten children, includ9 ing those with special needs, in early learn10 ing programs; and

11 (iv) children in child care that receive

12 enhanced educational and comprehensive

13 services and supports, including parent in14 volvement and education;

15 (E) conduct evaluations of early learning

16 programs;

17 (F) ensure that training and research is

18 made available to localities and that such train19 ing and research reflects the latest available

20 brain development and early childhood research

21 related to early learning; and

22 (G) improve coordination between localities

23 carrying out early learning programs and per24 sons providing early intervention services under
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1 part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Edu2 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.).

3 (4) LOCAL APPLICATION.—

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive

5 assistance under paragraph (1), a locality, in

6 cooperation with the Local Council described in

7 paragraph (5), shall submit an application to

8 the Lead State Agency at such time, in such

9 manner, and containing such information as the

10 Lead State Agency may require.

11 (B) CONTENTS.—Each application sub12 mitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include

13 a statement ensuring that the locality has es14 tablished a Local Council, as described in para15 graph (5) and a local plan that includes—

16 (i) a needs and resources assessment

17 of early learning services and a statement

18 describing how programs will be financed

19 to reflect the assessment; and

20 (ii) a statement of performance goals

21 to be achieved in adherence to the State

22 plan and a statement of how localities will

23 ensure that programs will meet the per24 formance measures in the State plan.

25 (5) LOCAL COUNCIL.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive

2 assistance under paragraph (1), a locality shall

3 establish a Local Council as described in sub4 section (c), which shall be composed of local

5 agencies responsible for carrying out the pro6 grams under this Act and parents and other in7 dividuals concerned with early childhood devel8 opment issues in the locality. The Local Council

9 shall be responsible for assisting localities in

10 preparing and submitting the application de11 scribed in paragraph (4).

12 (B) DESIGNATING EXISTING ENTITY.—To

13 the extent that a State has a Local Council or

14 an entity that functions as such before the date

15 of enactment of this Act that is comparable to

16 the Local Council described in subparagraph

17 (A), the locality shall be considered to be in

18 compliance with this paragraph.

19 (c) STATE COUNCIL.—

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The State Council as de21 scribed in subsection (a) shall be composed of a

22 group of representatives of agencies, institutions,

23 and other entities, as described in paragraphs (2)

24 and (3), that provide child care or early learning

25 services in the State.
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1 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—Except as provided in para2 graph (6), the Governor shall appoint to the State

3 Council at least 1 representative from—

4 (A) the office of the Governor;

5 (B) the State educational agency;

6 (C) the State agency administering funds

7 received under the Child Care and Development

8 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et

9 seq.);

10 (D) the State social services agency;

11 (E) the State Head Start association;

12 (F) organizations representing parents

13 within the State; and

14 (G) resource and referral agencies within

15 the State.

16 (3) ADDITIONAL MEMBERS.—In addition to

17 representatives appointed under subparagraph (2),

18 the Governor may appoint to the State Council addi19 tional representatives from—

20 (A) the State Board of Education;

21 (B) the State health agency;

22 (C) the State labor or employment agency;

23 (D) organizations representing teachers;

24 (E) organizations representing business;

25 and
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1 (F) organizations representing labor.

2 (4) REPRESENTATION.—To the extent prac3 ticable, the Governor shall appoint representatives

4 under subparagraphs (2) and (3) in a manner that

5 is diverse or balanced according to the race, eth6 nicity, and gender of its members.

7 (5) FUNCTIONS OF THE COUNCIL.—The State

8 Council shall—

9 (A) conduct a needs and resources assess10 ment, or use such an assessment if conducted

11 not later than 2 years prior to the date of en12 actment of this Act, to—

13 (i) determine where early learning

14 programs are lacking or are inadequate

15 within the State, with particular attention

16 to poor urban and rural areas, and what

17 special services are needed within the

18 State, such as services for children whose

19 native language is a language other than

20 English; and

21 (ii) identify all existing State-funded

22 early learning programs, and, to the extent

23 practical, other programs serving pre24 kindergarten children in the State, includ25 ing parent education programs, and to
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1 specify which programs might be expanded

2 or upgraded with the use of funds received

3 under section 5; and

4 (B) based on the assessment described in

5 subparagraph (A), determine funding priorities

6 for amounts received under section 5 for the

7 State.

8 (6) DESIGNATING AN EXISTING ENTITY AS

9 STATE COUNCIL.—To the extent that a State has a

10 State Council or a entity that functions as such be11 fore the date of enactment of this Act that is com12 parable to the State Council described in this sub13 section, the State shall be considered to be in com14 pliance with this subsection.

15 SEC. 9. LOCAL ALLOCATIONS.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each locality that receives funds

17 under section 8 shall, in accordance with the needs and

18 resource assessment described in section 8(c)(5), provide

19 funds to service providers to—

20 (1) increase the number of children served in

21 Early Head Start programs carried out under sec22 tion 645A of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C 9840a);

23 (2) increase the number of children served in

24 State prekindergarten education programs;
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1 (3) increase the number of Head Start pro2 grams providing full working day, full calendar year

3 Head Start services; and

4 (4) enhance the education and comprehensive

5 services and support services provided through the

6 Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of

7 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.) to child care pro8 grams and providers, including health screening and

9 diagnosis of children, parent involvement and parent

10 education, nutrition services and education, staff

11 and personnel training in early childhood develop12 ment, and upgrading the salaries of early childhood

13 development professional staff, and the development

14 of salary schedules for staff with varying levels of

15 experience, expertise, and training. Distribute such

16 funds to service providers.

17 (b) PREFERENCE.—In making allocations under sub18 section (a), a locality shall give preference to—

19 (1) programs that meet the needs of children in

20 households in which each parent is employed;

21 (2) programs assisting low-income families; and

22 (3) programs that make referrals for enrollment

23 under the State Children’s Health Insurance Pro24 gram established under title XXI of the Social Secu25 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et seq.), or referrals for
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1 enrollment of children under the medicaid program

2 established under title XIX of the Social Security

3 Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.).

4 (c) APPLICATION.—Each service provider desiring to

5 receive funds under subsection (a) shall submit an applica6 tion to a locality at such time, in such manner, and con7 taining such information as the locality may reasonably

8 require.

9 (d) ANNUAL REPORT.—Each locality that receives

10 funds under section 8 shall submit an annual report to

11 the State Council that contains the information described

12 in section 7(b)(3)(C) and a description of the manner in

13 which programs receiving assistance under this Act will

14 be coordinated with other early learning programs in the

15 locality.

16 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more than 5 per17 cent of the amounts received by a locality under section

18 8 shall be used to pay for administrative expenses for the

19 locality or Local Council.

20 SEC. 10. SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.

21 Funds appropriated pursuant to this Act shall be

22 used to supplement and not supplant other Federal, State,

23 and local public funds expended to provide services for

24 early learning childhood development programs.
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1 SEC. 11. FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION.

2 The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of

3 Education, shall develop and issue program guidance in4 structions for carrying out the programs authorized under

5 this Act.

6 SEC. 12. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

7 There is authorized to be appropriated and there is

8 appropriated to carry out this Act, $2,000,000,000 for

9 each of the fiscal years 2000 through 2004.

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