The Committee of 100 urges members of the Senate to restore the $24.3 million for the early childhood education program called the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) that was removed from the annual budget this legislative session. Moreover, we are asking all members of the Louisiana Legislature to support these funds remaining in the final 2024-2025 state budget. As a statewide business organization focused on economic development and as one of the co-creators of RESET Louisiana, we see a clear connection between early childhood programs improving K-12 scores and improved K-12 scores as enhancing the state’s performance across the board.

The $24.3 million supports 2,000 youngsters today that would lose access to early childhood education next year unless the funds are restored. There are a few details that we think are incredibly important for legislators when considering why to do so when there are so many competing priorities:

• It’s important to continue to expand access to early literacy for ages birth to three years old (which is the focus of CCAP), while the LA-4 program targets four-year-olds. Why? 90% of economically disadvantaged four-year-olds have access to a publicly funded pre-K seat (LA-4), while only 15% of youngsters under age four have access to a publicly supported program (CCAP). Bottom line is that the program that was cut is where Louisiana has greater need.

• Current year CCAP dollars are all being used. Some comments we’ve heard among legislators were that these funds weren’t being fully used and could be reallocated, but projections from the Louisiana Department of Education are that all of the existing state CCAP funds will be used by the end of state’s June 30th fiscal year, and there’s a waiting list for more students.

• Louisiana data show that the kids attending early literacy programs before starting kindergarten perform better in high school and are better equipped to access TOPS and TOPS Tech (Source: RESET Louisiana)

On another topic related to early childhood funds, PAR also raised concerns that the House-approved budget bills will expand the use of the Early Childhood Education Fund (ECEF) to potentially be available in the future to help pay for the LA-4 program, even though the local incentive funds are doing exactly what they were intended to accomplish, spurring more local funding. It’s worrying to see that this House change could pit early childhood programs against each other down the road. We agree with PAR that these programs should stand alone, rather than tapping one to help cover costs of the other. To do so, the Senate would need to change HB786 that changes the parameters of the ECEF. While it is not affecting the incentive funds in the budget this year, it could affect it in future years. 

For a refresh on the programs and sources, this graphic shows the state’s total early childhood funding breaks down by source of funds: