End Head Start, School Lunch Programs to Cut Deficit? Federal Report Probes Options

End Head Start, School Lunch Programs to Cut Deficit? Federal Report Probes Options

Education Week logoCapitol Hill’s budget arm says that among the many options federal lawmakers have for cutting the budget deficit, they could consider eliminating Head Start and federally supported school meal programs.

The Congressional Budget Office’s “Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2019 to 2028” is the latest in a series of reports the office releases to help lawmakers consider options for reducing the federal deficit, which in fiscal 2018 stood at $778 billion, or 3.8 percent of gross domestic product. There are a total of 121 possibilities the CBO lists for reducing the deficit, and there are a few programs listed that education policy advocates and observers might be interested in. The report also explores changes to Pell Grants and certain loan forgiveness programs available to teachers.

Keep in mind that this report from the CBO doesn’t require or place any burden on Congress to do anything—the office is just listing options for lawmakers to consider. Also: The CBO isn’t explicitly endorsing any of these options.

Child Nutrition Programs

Instead of the current funding and structure provided to school meal programs, the CBO outlines an approach familiar to many who deal with education policy and politics: block grants.

“This option would convert SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps] and the child nutrition programs to separate, smaller block grants to the states beginning in October 2019. The block grants would provide a set amount of funding to states each year, and states would be allowed to make significant changes to the structure of the programs,” the report states.

The budget analysts say this approach would reduce total spending on child nutrition programs by $88 billion, while savings for SNAP would be $160 million over the same time period. Spending on child nutrition programs like school lunch totaled $23 billion in fiscal 2018…

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NATIONAL: Early childhood investments seem to be paying off

NATIONAL: Early childhood investments seem to be paying off

Children are entering kindergarten with stronger math and literacy skills, a recent report shows. These gains seem to be due to investments in improving the quality of early childhood programs, such as HeadStart. Stark gaps still persist between students based on race and socioeconomic status, though all groups have made progress. Behavioral outcomes did not show improvement, and some measures actually declined. The report compares kindergarteners from 1998 to those in 2010.

Researchers said that the gains amount to about 17% of what the average kindergartener learns in math and reading. Schools should take notice and adjust their curricula to ensure that all students are receiving rigorous instruction that builds on what they already know so that such gains are not lost.

EarlyChildhood

Source: Bassok, Daphna, and Scott Latham. “Kids Today: The Rise in Children’s Academic Skills at Kindergarten Entry.” Educational Researcher 46, no. 1 (2017): 7-20.

Black students saw the greatest improvements, with an increase of 12% to 25% of students deemed “high proficiency” and a drop from 69% to 54% of students deemed “low proficiency. Hispanic students saw an improvement of 10% to 18% of students who were “high proficiency” and a 10 percentage-point drop in students who were “low proficiency.” In comparison, white students saw a 9% gain in “high proficiency” and 8% drop in “low proficiency.” The achievement gap across K-12 education is largely present before students even step foot in a school, so reducing these differences between students should ultimately result in more equitable outcomes later in life, as well.

EarlyChildhood2

Source: Bassok, Daphna, and Scott Latham. “Kids Today: The Rise in Children’s Academic Skills at Kindergarten Entry.” Educational Researcher 46, no. 1 (2017): 7-20.

Students haven’t necessarily been participating in preschool at higher rates, but the authors point to improvements in the quality of early childhood programs, such as HeadStart, as possible reasons for the gains. Other studies have documented improvement in activities that parents do with their children, such as reading at home or visiting zoos and museums.

While academic indicators showed improvement, behavioral outcomes did not enjoy such gains. Students were rated at similar levels as before in self-control and interpersonal behavior, but had worse outcomes in approaches to learning, which includes “children’s eagerness to learn, along with their ability to work independently, persist in completing tasks, and pay attention.” While the cause for this is uncertain, the authors point to an increase in seat work and a decrease in play-based activities for kindergarteners as a possible cause for the teacher-assessed rating change. Others have shown concern that children are losing the opportunity for self-selected activities, which promote a love of learning and social skills.

We applaud the work done by thousands of parents and early childhood educators to prepare students for school. We should continue to make investments in children, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to grow academically in the most developmentally appropriate way possible. We should also capitalize on the gains made in the early years by ensuring that they continue to grow throughout their K-12 education.

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