Proposed Legislation Could Save You Thousands of Dollars

There has never been a more exciting time to be involved in early childhood education than today.  As you read this, education policy is being reevaluated at the highest levels of government.  With hundreds of billions of dollars already spent to stimulate the economy and even more to come, President Obama and Congress are seeking immediate opportunities to promote job growth and grow the economy.

So what are some legislative actions that might satisfy these goals? Two bills that are under consideration are H.R. 460  and S. 210, each of which, if enacted, could mean that families save thousands of dollars each year on early childhood education and care.  Both bills (which are virtually identical) expand the Dependent Care Tax Credit and provide additional direct and indirect support to families who are struggling to find and afford quality programs for their young children. Specifically, if enacted, H.R. 460 and S. 210 would:

• Expand the Dependent Care Tax Credit: Currently, the Dependent Care Tax Credit isn’t available to many families that need it the most, the poor and working poor.  These bills would not only decrease the amount of money that families who pay for child care owe in taxes, it would also reach poor families that need it most, but currently can’t get it.  And for those families who are eligible, it would help them pay for high quality child care – including programs offered by companies like CCLC – so that they can go to work and know that their children are safe and in a high quality educational program.
• Increase the Employer-Provided Child Care Credit: Many employers sponsor child care for their employees.  This is incredibly beneficial for employees, who can have their young children close by, as well as for employers who experience enhanced productivity as well as improved ability to attract and retain top talent. To offset some of the high costs for providing on- or near-site programs, the government offers employers a tax credit. These bills would increase the credit, thus encouraging more employers to sponsor child care. 
• Increase in Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts: Many employers offer their employees the opportunity to put money into flexible spending accounts for things such as health care and dependent care.  The money that employees place into these accounts isn’t taxed (for employees and for employers that pay payroll tax).  This bill would double the maximum amount that you could put into a dependent care flexible spending account, potentially doubling the amount of money you may save on taxes under the current program.

As you can see, these bills actually increase employment by promoting jobs in a sector that can’t be outsourced and by helping parents go to work knowing that their children are being cared for.  At the same time these bills ensure that children throughout our country have better access to high quality programs that support their growth and development. They also help the economy in the long run by ensuring that our children and our country are advantaged by the long term benefits of early childhood education that have been well documented by economists, public policy experts, and even highlighted on this blog.

Passing bills like H.R. 460 and S. 210 requires broad support from the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the President.  If we want more children to have access to high-quality early childhood education, we are the ones that have to build that support.  I’m going to contact my U.S. Representative, my U.S. Senator, and President Obama to tell them that I support H.R. 460 and S. 210, and that they should too.  Do you want to contact your legislators and President Obama?  If so, you can click here to find their contact information.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson Inspires Children During Center Visit

KinderCare Learning Centers were honored this past Friday by a visit to Vintage KinderCare in Sacramento by Mayor Kevin Johnson, who came to highlight the benefits of early childhood education by reading “Heartprints” by P.K. Hallinan to the children.

The children and staff were thrilled with the mayor’s visit and presented him with two special gifts. The first was a framed drawing by one of the school-agers of Mayor Johnson next to the State Capital building. The second was a scrapbook of pictures drawn by the children featuring important milestones in the mayor’s life.

The center was well-prepared for the mayor’s visit thanks to the wonderful center director, Arlene Garcia and her talented teachers with the support of district managers, Kelly Wagman and Michelle Duffy and their teams. The Vintage center is a great reflection of KinderCare’s focus on providing a caring, nurturing, academically rich environment that ensures that all children start school ready to learn and succeed. It is a true beacon of light in the community, with a nearly 20 year tradition of providing outstanding service to children and families, reflecting the wonderful cultural and economic diversity of children in the Sacramento area. 

In addition to reading to the children, Mayor Johnson used his time with them to encourage them to aspire to go to college and, ultimately, to give back to their communities. Mayor Johnson also used this opportunity to discuss the critical importance of early childhood education in supporting both the academic success and development of individual children as well as the unparalleled economic and societal benefits from a quality early childhood education experience.

Mayor Johnson has demonstrated a long standing commitment to the children in the Sacramento area, having grown up in the Oak Park district of the City. After retiring from a 12-year career with the Phoenix Suns in 2000, he returned to Sacramento where he served as CEO of St. HOPE, a non-profit community development corporation he had founded in 1989, which focused on revitalizing inner city communities through public education, economic development, civic leadership, and arts enrichment. In 2003 St. HOPE took over his alma mater, Sacramento High School, and transformed it into a charter school, with overwhelming improvements in test scores and college acceptance rates since that time.

Elected Mayor of Sacramento in November 2008, he convened an Education Summit this past March to bring together thought leaders from K-12 education, higher education, business, philanthropy, and government to address ways to enhance the educational opportunities for children throughout Sacramento.
 
In his inauguration speech Mayor Johnson labeled his inspirational “Cinderella Story,” a “Sacramento Story,” noting that it would not be complete until he returned to his roots to create opportunities for every child in the community he came from.

Similarly, I hope that each of us can commit to supporting a Cinderella Story in our own communities, by working to ensure that all children, regardless of economic, social, ethnic or demographic background, have an opportunity to fulfill their dreams and, in turn, make a positive difference in the world. 

To achieve this vision, children must be respected as unique individuals and given access to rich and engaging educational experiences at home, in centers, and in schools. The impact we make in the life of a child will pay dividends not just in our lifetime, but for generations to come. And so a legacy begins.

Learning A Second Language Begins At An Early Age

In a prior posting, Your Child’s Amazing Brain, we talked about the importance of early activities on brain development. In some ways this is no more evident than with language development.

It may seem somewhat obvious that all children, unless they have a disability, are born with the capacity to learn any language. And many of us have seen how quickly young children can pick up multiple languages and how challenging it can be for adults to learn a second language—and especially to develop proper pronunciation. In fact, a 2007 paper by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child called “The Timing and Quality of Early Experiences Combine to Shape Brain Architecture“  indicated that, “If education policies were guided by what we know about the development of the brain, second-language learning would be a preschool priority.”

Children learn a new word in the Mandarin Immersion program

This past week when I was in Chicago, I had the opportunity to visit a unique dual language Mandarin Immersion program for preschool and pre-kindergarten children. This innovative program is currently offered at select KinderCare Learning Centers in Chicago, California, and Oregon. The program was adapted from a celebrated program in Singapore, known as Pat’s Schoolhouse, which was founded by the internationally recognized educator, Patricia Koh, more than 30 years ago.

The program I saw was at the KinderCare Learning Center in Schaumburg, just outside of Chicago, under the leadership of the center director, Cathy Veller. This wonderful program began about a year ago at this center. The class is led by two fully qualified teachers, and promotes school readiness skills. However, what makes this program unique is that one teacher, Wen Liu, only speaks to the children in Mandarin, while the other teacher, Donna DePrycker, only speaks to the children in English. In fact, Wen Liu had previously trained directly with Pat Koh before coming to the United States.

Children in the Mandarin Immersion program

Children in the program come from a wide variety backgrounds, some whose families speak Mandarin, while other families simply recognize the importance of early language development and, in particular, the future importance of fluency in Mandarin in our global economy.  And the classroom instruction is anything but rote. Children are exposed to learning a second language in a meaningful way, through conversation, song, and activities.

It was great fun to see the children, some who had only started the program a few weeks ago, singing and speaking in Mandarin. I must admit, it was a bit humbling and made me wish there were a program like this one available when my children were young.

For parents of children of any age, but especially the youngest ones, I encourage you to help your children have exposure to a second language. Remember, although it is never too late to learn a new language, as the pattern of neural connections in the brain become more established, it is more difficult for the circuitry to be altered. My advice to you is to start them learning languages while they’re young. You’ll be glad you did and so will they!

Bubbles – A First Step To Inspiring A Love of Science With Your Child

This week, I welcome back Andy Allan, the Science Wiz and Director of Curriculum Development for Champions Science Adventures™ for the second in a two-part series on Science Chicago and LabFest!  Andy talks about one of the fun, hands-on science experiments he will be presenting this summer as part of the LabFest! events in the Chicago area.

As I shared in last week’s blog, a few weeks ago I was in Chicago participating in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry’s LabFest!  I worked with LabFest staff to coordinate “hands-on” experiments that would be performed at the 15 LabFest! Events this summer to help inspire of love of science and learning with the children attending the events.

In order to capture the imagination of Chicago, we will explore Polar Molecule Bonding and Thin Film Interference or, as I like to call it, “Bubbleology,” an investigation into the amazing science of bubbles. What makes a bubble a bubble? Why are they round? Why are they colorful? What do they look like from the inside? Can you catch a bubble without it popping?

Science Adventures - Fun with bubbles.

Bubbles are fun and naturally engaging to children of all ages. They are motivational as a little science knowledge enables you to perform some amazing bubble tricks. They are relevant to our lives, they show up when we do the dishes, and can be investigated and tested using everyday items found in local stores.  Finally, through guided inquiry, they support concept retention by providing hands-on activities that actively demonstrate key science concepts. Bubbles garner natural curiosity and provide great pedestals to discuss surface tension, reflection light interference, evaporation and topology. Using simple supplies, Dawn Detergent and a hula hoop, we’re able to create a hands-on interaction with the science of bubbles, an experience that will hopefully be the beginning of a love of science.

So far, Bubbleology 101 has been a hit with the Chicago-area families visiting LabFest! Because children who take part in hands-on science projects learn more and have a deeper understanding of science principles than those who study through traditional classroom learning, we’ll continue to work to promote science that is fun and explores the everyday things in life. I encourage you and your children to try your own bubbleology or any one of these easy experiments at home.

I’m hopeful that today, a student might be trying to blow a better bubble, but tomorrow that success and inspiration might lead them to develop a new clean energy source that powers the world.

About Andy Allan, the Science Wiz and Director of Curriculum Development for Science Adventures
Andy Allan, scientist and educator with Science Adventures™, is passionate about inspiring a world of learners through hands-on science fun.  As a teacher, Andy is familiar with the sense of wonder and natural curiosity younger children have for science. He believes it is important to nourish that interest.

Andy’s passion for science developed as he learned more about the world’s greatest scientists and their hard earned discoveries.  From Newton’s laws of motion to Faraday’s work with electric motors, Andy’s fascination was with the work and experimentation that went into the uncovering of new information about the universe.

Through the Science Adventures programs, Andy develops lessons and experiments that keep children on the cutting edge of discovery by introducing them to the relevant research being studied and developed today.  This year’s Powerful Planet summer camp, for example, will teach the importance of energy efficiency and the need to manage our natural resources from wildlife to oil.

Andy has been with Science Adventures for the last 16 years. In his current position as Director of Curriculum Development, Andy works at creating hands-on inquiry based programs that inspire a joy in science through fun, innovation, and creativity.  Andy holds a B.S. in Physics and Microelectronics as well as a secondary teaching degree.  He is based in Littleton, Colorado.