Childcare has been a front page news issue over the last week and it’s a good thing!

Why? Because parents are planning to use their outside voices -- at the polls!

Will you join me and thousands of moms, dads, and other advocates for kids to pledge to vote for early education in November?

Just last month, MomsRising member Diana told us she’s voting because she “believes quality early education should be available to all families.” And it’s a good thing, because this election is coming at a critical time for early learning federal funding. 

Before the U.S. Congress left for their summer recess, both the House of Representatives and the Senate made decisions on funding for early learning programs, including preschool and childcare. And while the investments are a positive step in the right direction, they could be much better. In fact, a new report by Care.com found that one in five families spend 25% or more of their household income on childcare! 

Our elected leaders need to learn that investments in our littlest learners are investments in our country’s future!

When you go to vote this November make that message heard loud and clear! Will you join me and thousands of moms, dads, and other advocates for kids to pledge to vote for early education in November?

Here’s what has happened so far in Congress: Before recess, the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee approved increases in funding for the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and Head Start. The Senate Appropriations Committee included even more for CCDBG but less for Head Start. Both the House and Senate level-funded the Preschool Development Grants (same as last year). Given massive cuts proposed by many other federal programs, this relative support for early learning clearly reflects the fact that our voices are making a difference on early education. While this is a positive step forward since in years past many of these programs have seen reductions, it is still far from the funding that many experts believe is required in order to make sure all of our children have access to high-quality, affordable childcare and all child care providers are being paid a livable wage. And there are still a number of steps that need to be taken before this funding is finalized.

The fact of the matter is, while these investments are being proposed, so is legislation that would make major negative changes to early learning policy and make major cuts to the future education of our children. We need to hold back the tide of funding cuts and make sure our Congress is made up of individuals who want to be superheroes for our littlest learners, not villains. **Pledge to vote on early education in November and we can do just that! 

Moms know that we would do anything to ensure our children have a birght future. Still, only three in ten children have access to high-quality preschool opportunities right now, and the cost of quality, affordable childcare is creating a major strain on American families. One in four families have put themselves into debt or further debt to pay for childcare and almost half of families feel they spend too much on childcare---we hear you there! Two out of three working parents (67%) state that the cost of childcare has influenced their career decisions about their family, including asking for flexible work schedules, changing jobs to increase take-home pay, and switching from full-time schedules to part-time in order to save on child care. This clearly impacts both families and our economy. All of this spells a national emergency -- our children, families, and employers need leaders who prioritize preschool and childcare!

Our elected officials should and could be doing more to invest in early learning opportunities, like preschool and childcare, for all children! And if we make our voices heard in November, these changes will begin to happen.

**Join me in voting on early education at the ballot box in November!

Why are investments in early learning such a good idea? Because it helps our children (who will someday be workers) and our economy. We all win with these investments! Research shows that investments in early education later come back two-fold. In fact, leading economists agree that investments in high-quality early learning programs like preschool saves future dollars by 8:1. Studies also show that children who have high-quality early learning experiences are more likely to succeed in school, graduate from high school, gain stable employment, and are less likely to be arrested. Investments in early learning are a clear win-win-win!

Don’t forget to pledge to vote on early learning in November! (When you take action we’ll send you an email with an “I’m voting” sticker for Facebook and other ways to get your friends and family registered to vote. Fun!)

Together we can create real change for our littlest learners!

P.S. Thank you Care.com for your excellent survey on the cost of child care. To read more go here.