Financing Child Care in the United States - Ewing Marion Kauffman ...

GENERATING PUBLIC REVENUE LOTTERIES AND GAMING
POPULATION SERVED
ECDEC–funded programs are for children from birth to
the age of kindergarten entrance, with one exception.
DSS added some federal child care funds (Child Care
and Development Fund) to the ECDEC funds, which
allows school–age care programs to receive the
accreditation subsidy rate increases.
STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS
• To achieve the outcomes envisioned for the ECDEC
Fund, a systems approach is necessary to fit together
in a coordinated and complementary way all the
funding streams (federal, state, and local) and to work
across state agencies. In essence, DESE concentrates
on 3– and 4–year–olds while DSS focuses on children
under 3.
• The Early Childhood Inter–agency Team (ECIT) is the
mechanism for coordination used in Missouri. Four
state agencies are involved: education, social services,
mental health, and health along with the Head
Start–State Collaboration Office. The ECIT is
supported by the heads of each agency; its members
are the managers of the early childhood–related
programs within the agencies. The ECIT was
developed in 1997 through challenge grants from
the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the
Danforth Foundation to provide a mechanism to
encourage greater collaboration among agencies.
• The design of Missouri’s program gives both the social
service and the education agencies a stake in the
program. Although most of the funding is administered
by one of these two agencies on its own, joint
administration of some ECDEC funds and the
existence of the ECIT provide opportunities for
coordinated efforts. The fact that all sectors of the
child care community—school–based, community–
based and home–based—can participate encourages
broader support than would an approach with a
narrower focus and provides opportunities for
collaboration among sectors.
• Including young children whose parents care for them
at home recognized the fact that some legislators are
particularly concerned about providing support for
these families.
• The ECDEC Fund was a major recommendation of the
1997 Governor’s Commission on Early Childhood Care
and Education. Governor Mel Carnahan’s (D) interest in
early childhood, and his decision to set up the
commission, were strongly influenced by brain
development research, in particular the 1997 book,
Inside the Brain: Revolutionary Discoveries of How
the Brain Works by Ronald Kotulak 1 .
• The legislation requires DESE and DSS to conduct
a four–year evaluation to determine program impact
and to report the results to the legislature in 2002.
Evaluation is an important consideration that is not
always addressed when new programs are created.
• While state–sanctioned gambling is controversial, it is
a solid source of revenue in Missouri. In statewide
referendums, the voters have twice approved gambling.
Moneys deposited in the Gaming Commission fund are
defined in the statute as “state funds [and] shall not be
considered proceeds of gambling operations.”
(313.3851.)
OTHER SITES WITH SIMILAR STRATEGIES
Thirty–seven states have lotteries, and at least 10 states
have legalized casino gambling. Florida and Georgia fund
preschool programs with their state lottery proceeds.
Forty–one states and the District of Columbia now have
at least one state–funded preschool program.
CONTACTS
Ruth Flynn
Director, Early Childhood Education
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Box 480
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone (573) 751 2095
Fax (573) 522 5085
E–mail
rflynn@mail.dese.state.mo.us
Doris Hallford
Early Childhood Coordinator
Department of Social Services
PO Box 88
Jefferson City, MO 65103
Phone (573) 522 1137
Fax (573) 526 4837
E–mail
dhallfor@mail.state.mo.us
1
Kotulak Ronald (1997). Inside the Brain: Revolutionary Discoveries
of How the Brain Works. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel
Publishing.
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