The materials and opinions expressed in the following links are not necessarily those of Action for Children North Carolina. Action for Children does not endorse specific organizations, events, individuals, curricula or best practices implementation.
Early Education and Care
All children need access to affordable, high-quality early care and education to prepare them for success in school and life.
Children need high-quality early care and education because research shows that the early years of life set the stage for future development. Parents need dependable child care so that they can work to support their families. Action for Children works to ensure that all children -- and particularly our most vulnerable -- are ready for school by age 5.
School Readiness
Although children don't enter school for the first time until around age 5, they begin preparing for school the moment they are born. Experiences throughout the first five years of life help set the stage for success in school and life. Research shows that early experiences influence brain development by establishing the connections that provide the foundation for language, reasoning, problem solving, social skills, behavior and emotional health.
Research shows that early experiences influence brain development. Children cannot succeed academically unless communities, families and schools provide the types of developmental opportunities needed to nurture cognitive development during their first five years and beyond. Ready communities offer resources, services and supports for families with young children. Ready families provide a loving, supportive environment rich with opportunities to learn and grow. Ready schools welcome students into an environment in which they are encouraged to develop and succeed. When each of these supports is in place, children enter school with the skills, behaviors and supports they need to succeed.
Action for Children and its partners are working to increase understanding of why it is critical for children, families, schools and communities to work together to ensure that all children are prepared to succeed in school.
Click here for a brief history of school readiness work in North Carolina.
High Quality Early Care and Education
High quality early care and education programs help prepare children for school academically, socially and emotionally. Action for Children promotes access to high quality early care and education and works to make such programs accessible to all children. While children from all backgrounds benefit from the availability of high quality, affordable child care, at-risk children (such as those from low-income families or with disabilities or limited English proficiency) often show the greatest gains in cognitive, language and social skills.
North Carolina has been a national leader in high quality early care and education. Our state was one of the first to develop a system that both helped parents choose child care and steadily improved the quality of child care on offer over time. Learn more about the state's star-rating system for child care facilities here.
Click here for a brief description of the history and organization of early school preparation programs in North Carolina.
Child Care Subsidies
Child care subsidies help low-income, working parents afford quality child care for their children. There are currently over 17,000 N.C. children who are eligible for child care subsidies but do not receive them because the subsidy program is underfunded. North Carolinais one of 17 states with a child care subsidy waiting list. Action for Children North Carolina promotes increased state appropriations to reduce the child care waiting list and to improve reimbursement rates statewide. There are currently over 17,000 N.C. children who are eligible for child care subsidies but do not receive them because the subsidy program is underfunded.
Child care subsidies are funded by both federal and state monies. Federal funds come from the Child Care Development Block Grant, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Social Services Block Grant. North Carolinafunds come from an annual appropriation for child care subsidies and Smart Start funding.
North Carolina’s child care subsidy program has five goals:
- Enable parents to maintain or seek employment in order to support their family and achieve economic independence.
- Provide child care to children receiving protective services.
- Enable parents to participate in job training or educational programs that will lead to their employment.
- Provide child care to children in need of early intervention to enhance their development.
- Facilitate the reunification of families, aid families in crisis and prevent foster care.
Legislative Information:
Action for Children and its partners advocate for full funding of North Carolina’s Smart Start and More at Four programs, increases in the child subsidy reimbursement rate to bring it closer to fair market rates and adequately fund quality care, and increases in funding for child care subsidies so that children and families on the waiting list can receive support.
In the 2008-09 state budget, More at Four received an additional $30 million to support increases in per-slot reimbursement rates and to increase the number of available slots in the program by nearly 3,500, bringing the total number of More at Four slots to slightly over 32,000. Smart Start received an additional $500,000, some of which will go towards child care subsidies. $9 million was allocated to increase the number of child care subsidies available for low-income families. There was no increase in the subsidy rates paid to providers.
In 2009, 2010 and 2011, however, our early education system lost funding. The child care subsidy program received a temporary boost from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but that funding was used by the end of 2010. The 2011 budget cut both More at Four and Smart Start by 20 percent, and made changes to the More at Four program, including renaming it NC Pre-K and moving the program from the Department of Public Instruction (NC DPI) to the Division of Child Development within the Department of Health and Human Services. There is an ongoing debate and court battle over how many low-income children will be allowed access to the nationally-recognized program.
More Information
