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

EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM AID
(NEW JERSEY)
DESCRIPTION
The Comprehensive Educational Improvement and
Financing Act of 1996 (CEIFA) is New Jersey’s school
funding law, passed partially in response to a school
finance equity lawsuit (Abbott v. Burke). The act
established Early Childhood Program Aid (ECPA) for the
lowest–wealth school districts in the state to extend
part–day kindergartens to full–day for 5–year–olds and
to offer half–day preschool to all resident 4–year–olds.
Those districts, designated as “Abbott Districts,” also must
provide half–day preschool for 3–year olds. ECPA is
intended to provide fiscal resources to ensure that all
children in districts with high concentrations of
low–income students receive half–day preschool and
full–day kindergarten.
WHEN ESTABLISHED
The Abbott educational equity case has been in process
for more than 30 years. There have been several
judgments by the New Jersey Supreme Court. The most
recent is Abbott VI, in March 2000. The previous ruling in
1998, Abbott V, required that 28 high–poverty districts, or
“Abbott Districts,” generally those in which low–income
students are 40 percent or more of total enrollment,
implement “whole school reform”, including providing
full–day kindergarten for all 5–year–olds and at least
half–day preschool for all 3– and 4–year–olds. In June
1999, the New Jersey Legislature designated two more
districts as Abbott Districts, bringing the total to 30.
The legislature designated both Abbott and other
low–wealth districts — generally those with
concentrations of low–income students between 20
percent and 40 percent of total enrollment — as eligible
for ECPA. The aid became available to districts in the
1997–98 school year. A district’s eligibility for ECPA is
determined annually, which results in fluctuation in the
total number of ECPA districts each year. In the 1997–98
school year, in addition to the 28 Abbott Districts, 97
additional school districts were eligible for ECPA. In
1999–00 there were 105 non–Abbott Districts eligible
for ECPA in addition to the 30 Abbott Districts, for a total
of 135.
Abbott Districts were required to fully implement
court–ordered preschool and kindergarten by 1999–00.
The non–Abbott districts are required to provide half–day
preschool for all 4–year–olds and full–day kindergarten
for all 5–year–olds by the 2001–02 school year.
ANNUAL AMOUNT
A total of $303 million was available for ECPA in
1998–99, increasing to $310 million for 1999–00.
ECPA is a school–aid funding formula created by
combining some new money and several pre–existing
school aid categories into one and redirecting the funds
to specified early childhood programs. Not all of the
ECPA funds are new aid to districts.
SERVICES FUNDED
Preschool and kindergarten services are funded in
specified school districts with high concentrations of
low–income students. The court decisions require Abbott
Districts to have a maximum class size of 15 with 1
teacher and 1 aide for preschool; teachers must hold
state certification. The court ordered the New Jersey
Department of Education (DOE) to adopt, within one
month of the Abbott VI ruling, standards on educational
content of preschool programs to ensure well–planned,
high–quality early childhood education. Using existing
community–based child care and Head Start
organizations to deliver preschool is “necessary and
appropriate,” and the court further affirmed that all
preschool programs, wherever they are delivered, must
meet state standards. Children enrolled in a federally
funded Head Start program are defined as already being
served by a preschool program only if the Head Start
program meets the DOE’s preschool standards. However,
Head Start programs are permitted to collaborate with
districts when establishing new classrooms.
The non–Abbott ECPA districts also may choose to
contract with community–based organizations to offer
preschool. In these districts, either a class size of 15 with
1 teacher or class size of 20 with 1 teacher and 2 aides
is recommended, but not required. Currently, the same
requirement that applies to kindergarten—class size of 25
with one teacher—applies in these districts. Teachers in all
ECPA–funded programs must be certified, and the
Preschool–Grade 3 (P–3) teacher certification is being
reinstated. The court ruled that personnel currently
working in community–based centers contracting with
Abbott districts would be grandmothered. These staff will
have four years to earn a bachelor’s degree and obtain
P–3 certification. However, any newly hired teachers must
possess a bachelor’s degree and will have until
September 2001 to obtain P–3 certification. Funds must
be made available to assist staff in obtaining degrees and
certification. Data were not available on the proportion of
certified teachers currently working in ECPA programs.
Beginning with the 2001–02 school year, districts are
required to expend all ECPA funding on kindergarten and
preschool students. Prior to that school year, districts
were able to spend ECPA to expand facilities and
programs for students other than preschoolers and
kindergartners, as long as preschoolers and
kindergartners would ultimately benefit and adequate
progress was made toward meeting the implementation
goals of ECPA.
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