Education

The State of the Union Address 2024

On Thursday, March 7, 2024, President Biden delivered his third State of the Union Address before members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, and invited guests. He used the opportunity to highlight policy advancements that have happened during his administration, declared that “the State of the Union is strong and getting stronger.” The President started with

New Final Rule on Child Care

On February 28, 2024, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Child Care (OCC) announced the final rule that will lower costs for families that receive child care subsidies, improve payment practices to child care providers, and increase families’ child care options. The new rule makes updates to the Child Care and Development

USDA’s New Summer Nutrition Program: Summer EBT

This summer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will launch a new permanent nutrition assistance program known as Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer. Estimates suggest the program could reduce food insecurity and improve nutrition for 29 million school-aged children if implemented nationwide. As of January 1, 2024, over 30 states, territories, and Indian Tribal Organizations have announced

Providing Care for the Care Workforce

The National Women’s Law Center, held a webinar on December 4th entitled, “Providing Care for the Care Workforce - How Kentucky is Supporting Early Educators,” to discuss Kentucky’s strategy to eliminate childcare staffing shortages by giving childcare workers free childcare for their children. Across the country, 50% of the childcare workforce qualifies for assistance to

Free School Meals for All: Webinar

The Food Research and Action Center held a webinar on November 30, 2023 to discuss the benefits and need for free school meals, regardless of household income, to be provided to all children. These benefits include students being ready to learn, reduced stigma in the lunchroom, the end of school meal debt, and more. There

Information Memorandum on Child Welfare and Education Collaboration

On November 15, 2023, the Children’s Bureau released an Information Memorandum (IM) entitled, “Interagency Collaboration between Child Welfare and Educational Agencies to Support the Academic Success of Children and Youth in Foster Care,” to remind state and tribal title IV-E agencies of the school enrollment and educational stability requirements for students in foster care included

Chairwoman Murray Highlights Child Care Funding in Hearing

On November 8, 2023, Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray highlighted the need for additional funding for child care during a hearing on the President’s supplemental funding requests for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. In her opening

Administration Requests Child Care Funding

On Wednesday, October 25, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration released a statement calling for additional funding for domestic emergency aid priorities, including $16 billion in additional child care funding to address the loss of COVID relief dollars. From the fact sheet: “There are already reports of providers needing to raise parent fees to help cover operating

Ensuring Access to High-Quality, Affordable Early Care and Education for Low-Income Families

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty hosted a webinar on October 4, 2023, entitled “Ensuring Access to High-Quality, Affordable Care and Education for Low-Income Families”. Panelists Julia Henly from the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Yoonsook Ha from Boston University’s School of Social Work, and Gina Adams from

Kinship Care Supports Children’s Academic Performance

A new Child Trends brief from Drs. Tyreasa Washington and Brittany P. Michalec-Adkins studied children in out of home care (OOHC) and found that children in kinship care performed better academically than children in non-relative foster care. Children placed with kin tend to have better academic, behavioral, and mental health outcomes, and an increased sense

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