The case for protecting America’s youngest is irresistible. So it’s good to see bipartisan support in the Senate for reauthorizing the block-grant program, which would write into law the new federal safeguards -- and then some. The reauthorization bill, which we hope will be acted on this fall, would strengthen background checks by requiring searches of sex- offender and abuse-and-neglect registries in every state where the employee has lived in the past 10 years.
Quality Push
The law would also gradually raise to 10 percent the amount of block-grant money that states must devote to improving child- care quality. Currently, that floor is just 4 percent. And it would specify what actions qualify for such investment, such as teacher training, the expansion of infant and toddler programs, and the creation of quality-rating systems like North Carolina’s and Delaware’s. States would have to adopt at least two of more than a dozen listed suggestions.
Because many centers that accept children eligible for federal support also care for other children, passage of a toughened federal law would do much to improve child care generally. Of course, we’d also like to see Congress approve the $5.4 billion slated for the program in 2014 (up from $5.2 billion in 2012).
The nation can barely afford to spend less. Consider that the federal program now funds day care for only one in six eligible children (those from families earning no more than 85 percent of their state’s median income). Only one state -- New York -- is meeting the program’s goal of paying providers 75 percent of the going rate.
States should adopt their own initiatives as well. Ideally, all of them would have quality-ranking and payment systems that reward high performers. States should also make sure that all parents -- not only those eligible for federal support -- have easy access to information that lets them compare the quality of day-care centers.
The gain for society if all young children got the best possible care would be enormous. Policy makers have neglected this need long enough.