Passage of HB 4005 a Step Toward Freedom

by Kali Thorne Ladd | Feb 15, 2022 | News, Child Care, Oregon Policy

There were challenges in the child care and early learning space prior to the pandemic, but the crisis has only been magnified over the past two years. HB 4005 was designed to address this crisis, helping our communities throughout the state that need it most.

- Kali Thorne Ladd

Last week, I had the opportunity to testify to the Oregon legislature in support of House Bill 4005, which has since passed with unanimous support!

This bill, championed by the Child Care for Oregon Coalition, a group of nonprofit organizations like CI, labor unions, community advocates, parents, caregivers, and providers, is a needed response to the COVID-19 child care crisis and is an excellent step in building a comprehensive child care system in Oregon.

There were challenges in the child care and early learning space prior to the pandemic, but the crisis has only been magnified over the past two years, as has the unmitigated impact on children, families, providers, and the greater economy. HB 4005 was designed to address this crisis, helping our communities throughout the state that need it most.

Our future—our collective Oregon future—depends on decisiveness now, in order to get things right and set a foundation for our communities all across the state to thrive. Child care sustainability is integral to that. It is integral to making our communities work—not just for those with children, but for employers as well.

HB 4005 allows for a rate increase to providers caring for kids who are on a child care subsidy program. This supports the providers who are caring for some of our lowest-income children and families, and not only brings subsidy payments closer to the cost of care for providers, which helps their businesses survive, it also gives them greater incentive to serve families who have been hit by economic hardship. The bill will also increase the purchasing power of families who receive subsidies. Parents will have the choice to find the best option for their child, even if they don’t have a lot of money.

This is not only the commonsense thing to do, it is the moral thing to do.

In addition to this, HB 4005:

- Establishes a capacity-building grant program that will recruit, train, and support new providers and help current providers expand. (There are parts of our state right now, where there is one child care provider in a 60 mile radius. This is unacceptable.)
- Provides direct payments of $500 to child care workers to recruit and/or retain the child care workforce.
- Supports the Department of Early Learning & Care and continued implementation of child care so that the gains that we’re making, last.

The late and great Nelson Mandela said: “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.”

This bill, House Bill 4005, is a step in the right direction toward freedom. It is a step in the right direction toward protecting the dignity and decency of all Oregonians.

Federal Aid Program Brought 60k Oregon Kids Out of Poverty

by Ashley Walker | Jan 7, 2022 | Federal Policy, News, COVID-19, Equity

2019 KIDS COUNT data from Our Children Oregon tells us that before the onset of COVID-19, 13.6% of Oregon’s children were living in poverty. Between January and April of 2020, this rate dropped nearly five points, following the release of federal pandemic relief funds.

Federal aid programs like the Child Tax Credit (CTC) go a long way toward reducing the economic burden facing low-income families across our state, helping these families access basic needs that will lead to better health for their children, increased stability, and more success in school and beyond.

Initial findings from the Oregon Poverty Measure Project show that the expanded Child Tax Credit, which provided monthly payments to families of up to $300 per child under age 6 and up to $250 per child 6 to 17, helped to bring 60,000 Oregon children out of poverty.

October 2021 data from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities show that 89% of low-income families in Oregon have received funds from the expanded CTC, and according to research from the Social Policy Institute, families reported using the monthly influx of cash to pay for food, housing, utilities, and child care.

This benefit, one of the most popular provisions in President Biden’s Build Back Better Act, ended in December and is not going to continue unless bipartisan agreement can be reached. As advocates for children, we believe it’s imperative to continue supporting families with relief programs such as the expanded Child Tax Credit.

ESS Early Learning Academy: School Transitions with an Anti-Bias Lens

by Ashley Walker | Jun 9, 2021 | Professional Learning, Early School Success, Announcements, COVID-19, Equity

As Oregon schools prepare to move into the fall of 2021, the Early School Success team at CI is planning its first ever Early Learning Academy, inviting district teams from around the state to examine educational transitions through an anti-bias lens, with a focus on the love and care that teachers, students, families, and entire school communities need as they continue to move through the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Academy will begin with a kick-off event on Wednesday, June 23, featuring keynotes from Dr. Iheoma Iruka and Dr. Tonia Durden, two authors of the book Don’t Look Away: Embracing Anti-Bias Classrooms. This event has recently been opened to the public! If you are interested in attending, you can register here by 4pm on Thursday, June 17, 2021.

We’re incredibly honored to welcome our keynote speakers.

Tonia Durden, Ph.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor and Birth-5 Program Coordinator within the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education at Georgia State University. Dr. Durden’s primary scholarship and research trajectory focuses on support of African American children’s socio-cultural development. Her goal is to create racially equitable learning experiences for children of color. As a teacher educator and researcher, the focus of her work includes preparing pre-service and in-service teachers to become culturally competent master teachers. Dr. Durden’s professional work and scholarship can be categorized into three core areas of focus: Early Childhood Education (curriculum and program development); racial educational equity (research to professional practice); and Early Childhood Systems Engagement (strategic partnerships and equitable systems building). Dr. Durden is committed to using teacher education and research as an informative vehicle towards helping develop educators and leaders who become culturally responsive change agents and advocates in their classrooms and communities.

Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D., is a Research Professor in the Department of Public Policy, a Fellow at the Frank Porter Graham, Child Development Institute (FPG), and Founding Director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at FPG (the Coalition) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Through the Coalition, Dr. Iruka is leading projects and initiatives focused on how evidence-informed policies, systems, and practices in the early years can support the optimal development and experiences of minoritized children and children from low-income households and communities. Her work focuses on ensuring that children start off well, through family engagement and support, quality rating and improvement systems, and early care and education systems and programs. Dr. Iruka focuses on ensuring excellence for young diverse learners, especially Black children and their families, through the intersection of anti-bias, anti-racist, culturally grounded research, program, and policy. Dr. Iruka serves and has served on numerous national and local boards and committees, including the Brady Education Foundation, Trust for Learning, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees, the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs, and the Nation Advisory Committee for the U.S. Census Bureau.

She has a B.A. in Psychology from Temple University, an M.A. in Psychology from Boston University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami, FL.

Guests are able to register for the June 23 kick-off session. District teams who have committed to a deeper, long-term engagement with the material will receive coaching throughout the 2021-22 school year.

Children’s Institute would like to thank the Ford Family Foundation and the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation for making this event possible.

More From Dr. Iruka and Dr. Durden

Iheoma Iruka Strives to Make Racial Equity ‘the Air We Breathe’ at FPG

A Shield of Armor

Be Aware: Confronting My -isms

Be Intentional: Culturally Relevant Teaching — My Culture

Be Intentional: Culturally Relevant Teaching — My Beliefs

Be Intentional: Culturally Relevant Teaching — My Teaching

Dear CRT: Creating Culturally Relevant Classroom Environments

Dear CRT: Responsive Interactions

2020 NIEER Report: Federal/State Partnership Needed to Expand High-Quality, Full-Day Preschool

by Ashley Walker | Apr 29, 2021 | What We're Reading, Federal Policy, National Research, News, Oregon Policy, Oregon Research, Policy Trends, Preschool, Preschool Landscape, COVID-19, Equity

As expected, the COVID-19 pandemic set back state preschool enrollment and funding across the country, according to the 2020 edition of The State of Preschool Yearbook by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, released earlier this month.

Oregon had achieved an increase in enrollment and inflation-adjusted spending prior to the pandemic, and is poised to continue to make headway on preschool access by funding the Governor’s recommended expansion of Preschool Promise, Oregon Pre-Kindergarten, and the Equity Fund during the 2021 legislative session.

But nationally, the report found that:

Growth in state-funded preschool was slowing before the pandemic.
The pandemic imposed serious setbacks and reversed recent progress.
Uneven progress among states is worsening inequality in children’s access to high-quality preschool.
Most states spend too little per child to support high-quality, full-day pre-K and few reach all their 3- and 4-year-olds.

NIEER says now is the time for a renewed commitment to high-quality preschool for all, beginning with those in the lowest-income families.

“Oregon is one of a small number of states approaching levels of per-child spending adequate to truly support high-quality preschool,” said Steven Barnett, Ph.D., NIEER’s founder and senior co-director.

Dana Hepper, CI’s director of policy and advocacy, adds, “Oregon’s per-child spending reflects the progress we’ve made toward achieving funding parity with K-12 schools — which would mean preschool teachers were paid on the same scale as elementary teachers, and full school-day programs were available to 3- and 4-year-olds.”

Federal/State Partnership Needed Beyond COVID Rescue & Recovery Dollars

Nationwide, enrollment in state-funded preschool increased slightly in 2019-2020, but took a hit in 2020-2021 as many programs closed or only offered virtual learning and parents were hesitant to send children to in-person school during the pandemic.

“For nearly 20 years, annual progress on preschool has been slow and uneven, and at this pace universal pre-K will remain an unfulfilled promise into the next century,” said Barnett. “Beyond federal rescue and recovery dollars for the short-term, we need a new federal/state partnership to accelerate progress toward high-quality pre-K beginning with the most disadvantaged children, many of whom still receive no pre-K at all. This would require that federal and state governments steadily increase spending on pre-K during the next 30 years, expanding programs to reach all 3- and 4-year-olds, beginning with the many children in low-income families who still do not attend pre-K.”

As with last year, the survey reveals bipartisan support for preschool across the country, with both “red” and “blue” states among the nation’s leaders in high-quality preschool. That offers hope that the nation can move ahead to expand access more rapidly in the future.

Oregon HB 3073 to Establish Early Learning Authority, Expand Child Care and Early Learning

by Celeste Yager-Kandle | Apr 20, 2021 | News, Child Care, Oregon Policy, COVID-19, Equity

Oregon House Bill 3073 (HB 3073) will streamline Oregon’s child care system by establishing a new state agency: the Early Learning Authority. The agency will be separate from the Oregon Department of Education.

“A new department focused on early learning and care is a necessary next step for Oregon to expand equitable early learning opportunities and unify its child care system,” explained Miriam Calderon, Oregon Early Learning System director.

“With this change, our state’s children, families, communities, providers, and businesses will benefit from greater access, higher quality, and efficient delivery of services. After a pandemic that has focused our state and our country on the importance of child care, and new federal resources, there couldn’t be a better moment to act,” she said.

Currently, the state’s Early Learning Division (ELD) oversees the majority of Oregon’s early care and education programs, which include state preschool, state infant-toddler programs, professional learning and the Quality Improvement System, parenting education, and an early childhood equity fund that targets resources to culturally-specific 0-5 and multigenerational programs.

The Future of Child Care in Oregon

HB 3073 is a critical piece of legislation that addresses Oregon’s child care crisis and will strengthen the child care system statewide.

Children ages 0-5 are the most racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse Oregonians. They are also the most likely to live in poverty. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic only continues to compound the effects of racism and inequality among children in this age group.

“Babies born during the pandemic will be starting kindergarten as we start to recover from a recession,” explained Dana Hepper, director of policy and advocacy at Children’s Institute. “Brain development during this time period creates a foundation for their whole lives, which is why it’s critically important we make progress for them, now.”

HB 3073 will provide every child age 0-5 in Oregon with the opportunity to succeed in school, work, and life by providing high-quality early childhood education programs. It will also allow the state to be more strategic in its use of funds to rebuild the early child care and education sector from the devastating effects of the pandemic; make programs work better for children, families, and providers; and create a critical opportunity to advance equity.

Establishing the Early Learning Authority will streamline the administration of child care and early learning by housing Oregon’s child care subsidy program, Employment Related Day Care (ERDC), with other early learning and child care programs.

It will also shift ERDC into a child care assistance program that better serves low-income families, and creates more financial stability for child care business owners and educators 一 especially Black, Native, women of color and other women 一 who perform this essential work.

Early Childhood Advocacy

The Child Care for Oregon Coalition (CCFO) is leading advocacy efforts to build a comprehensive child care system in Oregon and HB 3073 is a top priority.

Oregon’s Early Childhood Coalition (ECC) collaborates with and supports CCFO’s leadership and vision to build a universal, publicly-funded child care system in Oregon that is equitable, affordable, culturally-relevant, inclusive, developmentally appropriate, safe and community-led. Both the CCFO and ECC have made a commitment to be guided by the experiences of Black, Native, and families of color; and families and providers historically excluded from policy and budget decisions.

With HB 3073, Oregon is well-positioned to provide a model for how to transform early childhood governance, improve the delivery of services to children and families, and better support child care providers.

Learn about our 2021 Policy Priorities

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