Today the White House released President Obama’s FY2017 budget request to Congress, and it includes a substantial investment in quality early care and education.
The proposal includes roughly $19.5 billion for early childhood programs!
This comes on the heels of significant congressional action on early childhood education, including historic support for early learning in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and the inclusion of nearly $1 billion in new money for early childhood education as part of the FY2016 appropriations bill in December.
The president’s budget includes significant funding to expand many of these programs, including:
- Preschool Development Block Grant: $350 million, an increase of $100 million over FY2016.
- Child Care Development Block Grants (CCDBG): $2.96 billion in discretionary CCDBG funding, an increase of $200 million discretionary increase. $6.58 billion in mandatory CCDBG funding.
- Head Start: $9.6 billion, an increase of $434 million over FY2016. This includes $645 million to support Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships and other activities.
We’re incredibly grateful to President Obama and this administration, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education, for their continued and crucial support for our nation’s youngest learners.
Thanks to our friends at the First Five Years Fund for providing us with this information. Read more about the budget proposal on the FFYF blog!