Education - House Early Childhood Subcommittee
Video
Transcript
5 documents
Machine transcript
May contain errors. Verify important quotations against the official video.
About transcript accuracy
- Source
- Whisper
- Model
- ggml-large-v3-turbo.bin
- Processing date
- October 4, 2026
Unknown speaker
0:00
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Speaker 4
6:00
I heard about another great early childhood education place in northwest Arkansas. I think Alice Walton is behind the... The
Speaker 9
6:30
I've been a two and a half hour drive for me.
Okay, everybody, I think we're going to go ahead
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
7:06
and get started. Thank you for your patience. We're ready. Gavel in. Thank you, guys. This meeting is called to order. I need a motion to approve the minutes. Thank you. Second? All in favor? Perfect. Thank you very much. So today I'm really excited to have some special guests to give us a couple of reports on some things that are going on with early childhood throughout the state and some issues that we may or may not have in the legislature with our state programs.
So anyway, we appreciate y'all being here, and the first presentation will be from Arkansas Head Start and the Early Head Start program from Angela Blankenship. And Angela is the Head Start Collaboration Office Director with the Arkansas Department of Education. And Angela, when you get to the table, if you will press your mic and just introduce yourself for the record. And then begin your presentation. And we'll ask questions when you're done.
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
8:17
And thank you for being here. Thank you for allowing me to share about Head Start today. So I did send my presentation over, but I'm not sure it got put in
Speaker 17
8:34
to the system this morning. Okay, all right. Well, I can talk without a picture, if
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
8:41
that's okay with you. Okay. So thank you all again for allowing me to speak about Head Start.
My name is Angela. I do have, it's fine. it's fine I can just go ahead without it just to save everyone some time okay sure okay so my name is Angela Blankenship I am the head start state collaboration director and I want to share with you today a little bit about
the structure of Head Start, the funding streams, and how Head Start connects with the state services for early childhood. In 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson declared his war on poverty and he shared a statement saying that the children in poverty should not be poverty's captives. Shortly thereafter Sergeant Shriver took the lead and he assembled a panel of experts on early
childhood development and created a comprehensive program that would meet the community's needs to serve children in poverty. In the summers of 1965 and 1966 the Office of Economic Opportunity launched an eight-week project called Project Head Start. We're very fortunate in Arkansas that we still have some of our Head Start grantees were part of the original Head Start project in 1965.
Head Start was recently reauthorized and under that there were several provisions that set aside to strengthen the quality of Head Start. Those included aligning Head Start standards with the early learning standards in each state, providing higher qualifications for the workforce in the Head Start world, and creating state advisory councils. We recognize ours in Arkansas as the Early Childhood Commission, and then it
also included a full review of child outcomes and financial audits. Currently, Head Start is administered at the federal level by the Administration for Children and Families under the Department of Health and Human Services. What's unique about Head Start in Arkansas, and when I refer to Head Start, the definition that the federal team shares with us is Head Start meaning birth to age 5. The model serves a federal to local model, so all of the funding
received by Head Start grantees for Head Start services is given directly from the Administration for Children and Families. The current total funding amount is $128,351,000, with the number of children served at 6,449 with 18 different grantees or grant recipients in the state of Arkansas. Again, the population served is birth to three for early Head Start and three to five for
Head Start. The funding flows directly from the federal government and the Office of Early Childhood here in the Department of Education does not have any role in the funding decisions for that program. Migrant and Seasonal Head Start is another funding stream from the federal government, and it serves the population of families and children who are transient farm workers. We do not have any American or Native populations
that are served through that funding stream, which is also a federal funding stream so how does head start meet community needs again the federal to local model is established based on a community needs assessment that each program must determine what is best for their program specifically for instance the programs in northwest arkansas have a greater or different need than those programs that may be located in the
Delta. The community needs assessment allows the local program to determine the best options, set a very strategic plan with program goals over a five-year project period. Eligible families include those that are at or below the federal poverty guidelines. It also includes eligible families on TANF, supplemental security income, and just most recently in some of the federal changes, SNAP recipients begin, can become part of the Head Start
program as part of that service. What's also unique to Head Start is that it prioritizes foster care, children, enrollment, and those children that meet the McKinney-Vento definition of homelessness. Oftentimes, programs don't have enough slots to meet the need of their community, and therefore, under the federal guidelines, must maintain a waiting list that allows for the most needy children to receive services first.
What's different about Head Start in enrollment and eligibility is that children who need to receive the most services are chosen first for enrollment. It is not a first-come, first-serve enrollment process. Program settings, again, are designed by the Head Start programs themselves based on their community needs. Specifically in Arkansas, most of the programs serve children in a center-based setting.
Some have home-based settings where the provider goes out to the home area, and there may be some locally designed programs based on what that community feels is important. So what makes Head Start different from every other early childhood program in this state or even in the nation? Well, the early learning program is designed that has the family as the central core of what we do.
Early learning and development is the important foundation for programs, building strong relationships as the foundational driver for what happens in a program. They engage families as the first and most important educator for their child. They develop and implement effective practices that are around the five key areas of development that we know is approach to learning, social emotional development, language and literacy,
cognition and physical development. All of that is constructed through a play-based setting which is also structured around high quality instructional materials. A unique portion of what Head Start does is an ongoing screening assessment of that child that's enrolled in the program to ensure that all services that the child should be receiving can be accessed.
Head Start also requires at least a 10% enrollment of children with disabilities. Another unique factor in Head Start is the health and wellness piece. It sets us apart from many other early childhood programs in that every child within the first 30 days of enrollment is ensured that they have a medical home, a dental home, and health insurance.
From there, all children receive a medical, dental, physical, hearing, vision, and behavioral screening within the first 45 days of enrollment. Health and hygiene are a critical part of the daily routine of young children and their families and families are also supported in assisting in receiving mental health services throughout the state family well-being again being the central component of what sets head start aside from most programs many strategies and parent supports are shared with
families, and also links to community services during pregnancy and beyond to ensure that families' well-being is met. Oftentimes, and as required under the federal mandate, programs must assist families in identifying and reaching their own individual goals. Those goals may be related to finances and economic mobility, housing, employment, and education. The Head Start programs even provide a career
pathway to early care and education. Nationwide, 25 percent of program staff are actually former Head Start parents. Family engagement being a central part also allows programs to support families in the male caregiver and father engagement initiatives, and helping parents become lifelong advocates for their children, and a unique platform for leadership through the policy council.
That is another federal mandate for the program. So program management, what does that look like for Head Starts? What's different compared to Arkansas early learning programs? Head Start program performance standards are those standards that define the criteria and the minimum requirements that the federal guidelines under the Head Start Act for programs to carry out.
They serve as the foundation for Head Start program's mission to deliver a comprehensive, high-quality program. There is a unique program support network that's divided into three specific, distinct functions. One of those is the national centers, and they promote excellence through building the capacity of programs in research-based information. The regional technical assistance network provides targeted training and technical assistance for each program or a group of grantees.
And the third level is each grant recipient from the federal level receives funding in their notice of award that is specifically earmarked for training and technical assistance. So how do we ensure that Head Start is meeting the needs of the federal guidelines? Compliance monitoring is a very strong component of Head Start. We want to ensure that children's health and safety are protected and that there's an effective oversight of the program.
Each year in the fall, the Office of Head Start at the federal level provides an information memo that explains the entire monitoring process for the upcoming year. Each program grantee will receive at least three federal reviews during a five-year grant cycle. Annually in August, all Head Start programs report out the Program Information Report, which is a series of demographic information data, program statistics,
and general information on enrollment needs of the state and community areas. So how do we wrap up what Head Start looks like compared to what all early childhood programs in our state have to offer? Since 1965, Head Start across this nation has served 40 million children and families. And we know from all of that long-term service and the research collected that children who are enrolled in Head Start programs are more likely to graduate from high
school and attend college. They have improved social, emotional, and behavioral development and are actually better prepared to be a parent than those children who did not attend the program. There's a broad pattern of research that shows the impact for children over time, But most importantly, we see a lot of economic benefits begin to emerge once that child reaches adulthood.
Coupled with the design process, the research-based quality comprehensive services, Head Start has the power to change the trajectory of not only a child's life, but the family involved. Thank you. Do you have any questions for me? Wow, that's a lot of
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
22:35
information for sure. And thank you so much and for taking on the role. We appreciate it. Questions?
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
22:43
Looks like Representative Mayberry. You know I always have questions. I love it. Thank you. And I wish that we had the papers. We'll get them eventually, but I was trying to jot down notes the whole time you were talking, getting as many things as I could. So I guess one of the
things that we've heard a lot about is some federal funding that's hurt some of this. So have we seen any cuts federally for Head Start? Has that happened at all?
Is that a part of any of this cut?
Speaker 25
23:17
Anything that's gone on, I should say? Well, there is currently a
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
23:23
notice of proposed rule change that has been presented in the federal registry. is open for public comment until October 9th and it has specific issues that are addressed for Head Start programs how those changes will affect Head Start programs I don't have the exact
information on that because again each program's community needs assessment could be affected differently based on those those particular proposed rule changes okay so when you started out if
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
23:57
I wrote it down correctly currently Arkansas we get a hundred and twenty-eight
Speaker 27
24:02
million yes a hundred and twenty-eight million okay and and that's been a hundred and twenty-eight million do you
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
24:13
know for how long has that that number changes annually based on the grant recipients
request and again that's based on the
Speaker 25
24:21
community needs assessments annually okay but you don't know what that maybe was the year before that or the I mean the annual PR
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
24:29
that's a lot of information to yes that information
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
24:33
can be found in the annual PR that is reported out by head start in the fall of every year so if we needed a comparison we could go back and look at that
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
24:46
okay and just to see how many children you know had been serviced before and are we still providing i think i think
i wrote down six thousand four hundred and thirty nine children um so you know has it been that amount for how
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
25:04
many years that is one of the lower amounts compared to the last few years and that is based on the fact that there were some rule changes in 2024 and programs across the state made the decision to make changes within their grant what were those rule changes that some of the rule changes that came out had to do with wage parity for head start staff
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
25:31
and having wage parity for public schools can you explain that
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
25:40
to me a little bit more well again it's based on the head start act and also the the rule changes that came out in 2024 and so those have to be aligned with the state standards for each state and so when the learns act came out and made the change for a certified teacher and the base salary for that head start
was given all head starts across the nation were given seven years to make a change in their policies and procedures so that staff that had the same qualifications who worked in head start would have wage parity to the public school so a preschool teacher is
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
26:23
making the same through head start is making the same the fifty thousand dollar minimum is what you're telling me it's possible that would have to be you
Speaker 25
26:34
would have to look at the data for each location and i don't
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
26:40
have that information okay um but because the wage went up higher that made it harder to service as many children am i well the funding
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
26:52
didn't change for programs from the federal level so the funding remain the same but the need to meet the federal guideline changed so programs had to make some different decisions
Speaker 25
27:06
in applying for their grants so less children were getting the services that's
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
27:14
possible for some programs yes okay just trying to connect all the
dots and trying to understand the big picture that's what what this committee is doing we're trying to make sure that we've got all cards on the table and we can
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
27:27
see all the moving parts but again those are decisions based based at the federal level and and programs make those decisions on their own community needs and communicate that at the federal level and then the federal office of head start makes the decision on how to fund that program okay but
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
27:46
i think many of us are excited that our
teachers are being paid more because they they deserve that so but the the unintended consequences that maybe some children that could have gotten services no longer can because the the money's not there to support them um and do you mind if i ask another question i'm sorry or i i miss i'll let representative uh brown and i'll come back
Representative Denise Garner
Unverified
28:08
i'll let her i talked for a lot representative brown
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
28:15
Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Blankenship, I appreciate the report.
It's very thorough and covered a
lot of material. A couple of questions I had when you were giving your report. You talked about the needs assessment and how what might be required in northwest Arkansas might be different than what's required in the Delta. So that you can put my worry to bed and to sleep, we're still, I'd like to know what kind of needs assessment that would be.
I mean, we're still helping the children in both areas achieve academic success
for their expectations or standards for their age? Yes, the
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
29:04
federal guidelines require that each program set child outcomes reports based on the children that they serve. And so those standards
Speaker 25
29:16
are federally set, and so that stays the same.
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
29:22
Thank you. And then one other thing, you made a statement
about the children in Head Start of going to college and achieve more versus children who don't. Now, when you say children who don't, is that children across the board or is that low-income children
or what did that mean? That is research
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
29:49
provided by the Office of Head Start,
and I can provide you more detailed information on the comparison
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
30:04
those are my questions. Thank you. I've got a couple of questions. First of all, these assessments, the annual assessments, how can we get a look at
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
30:15
those? Are you referring to the child assessment or the program assessments? No, the program assessments. Those are available on headstart.gov.
Okay. And it is called the PIR report. Q-I-R? P-I-R. P-I-R. As
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
30:37
kind of on the same line as Representative Mayberry's questions, my question is, how many children are we missing? So how many are actually eligible and we're not getting to them for whatever reason?
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
30:57
I don't have the answer to that question. I think that is part of the work that I'll be doing in collaboration with the State Office of Early Childhood. Okay, great. As we continue to work with the local leads together to identify who needs
Speaker 14
31:13
services in our state and how best to serve them. Great, great. Thank you
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
31:18
very much. And I think that's part of the issue across the board and something that we're really wanting to help with that. So as you think about ways that the state can help, let us know about that.
And we may hear in the next report how many kids are being left out, not just from Head Start, but across the board and what we can do to help. Representative Mayberry.
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
31:48
found really nice about what you were saying with Head Start is that it sounds like it follows the child all
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
31:56
the way through graduation into adulthood, correct? There is trajectory and long-term outcome reports that have been done over time in different programs, yes.
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
32:06
So that child that was in Head Start, do you mean that when they are graduating high school that they're filling out another assessment or is this just based on what they
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
32:19
I mean explain to me a little bit more well those again those projects were collected that evidence and research that was done at the federal level and those children were comparatively over the years where they have tracked children at different time periods so it's not a continual tracking of the child we do
a transition effort between current children that are leaving head start and going into the public school and that again is continued work within each state to ensure that there's a collaboration and a systems development to be able to support the data that we're collecting to show how head start is is performing and and do you have any more i mean
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
33:03
you gave us a little bit of that information but do you have more that you can share
as we talk about the importance of prevention
yes starting at the earliest stages of life I think there's many of us here who are just saying this is where we really need to start and so but but we hear others say oh it doesn't really make a difference or it's not needed and so I'm kind of asking well where's
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
33:31
the research that that it does make a difference and again that's some of the work that the national centers do as part of that program performance support network so we can access some of that research through headstart.gov so I can get more information for you okay any research
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
33:50
to support it is greatly appreciated and wanted I guess I've asked lots of questions so thank you thank
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
34:01
you representative Brown thank you again I I was curious, in the zero to three age group, are the newborns, who identifies? Do the parents need to apply for the Head Start program? Yes, parents
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
34:19
apply for the Head Start or early Head Start program.
In the early Head Start program, the birth to three population, some slots can be reserved for pregnant mothers so that they're supported for that prenatal care, and then their child would receive ongoing early Head Start services once the child is born. But the parent must make application to the
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
34:46
program. Now, would the child, let's say the mother and the father are both working or want to work,
So then that child could go into a Head Start center, be dropped off each day, or they could receive services in the home? Right. So if
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
35:08
they are a working parent, and again, if the program has chosen to be a center-based program, the parents are expected to have the child at the program daily for the set program hours. If the model that has been funded by the federal government is a home-based model,
then the parents would receive support services in the home
Speaker 59
35:34
based on that criteria that's set within that program grant. When it comes to
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
35:41
receiving services in the home, is that simply a matter of guiding the parents
on things that they can do or are, you know, physical resources like
colorful toys and activities are actual physical items provided for the child?
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
36:00
It's a combination of both. A home-based provider would go into the home, take materials, help parents choose the appropriate materials for their children. There are things that parents can use. They help them utilize things within their home. that would provide, again, more developmentally appropriate experiences for their children. They model for the parent appropriate interactions with children in those settings
and help provide ongoing resources, whether it's information, connecting them with community activities, and providing socialization opportunities at a central location periodically. Wonderful. Thank you. You're welcome. Representative Mayberry? I still
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
36:57
have more. I'm sorry. Okay, so the maternal mortality rate in this state.
Yes. I'm seeing you nod right away. You know that there is an issue in the state of Arkansas. so is this one other source of a way that we could get to our highest risk mumps before there's a problem and explain to me how how that would work and um is there anything you know this is federal funding so is there anything statewide that we can do to
help support that because if it's just
one more avenue we want
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
37:39
to do what we can all head start programs under the federal guidelines under the head start act and in the program performance standards are required to establish memorandum of understanding with local community and state resources so that families can have some type of reciprocal service opportunities if need be head start is one avenue that would be connected to local or state services whether it's through a reciprocal referral process or a service that can
be provided in the community for those families that they can be prioritized for those
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
38:21
services so typically these are moms that maybe they have a two-year-old that's already in the head start program mom gets pregnant again and that's who you're
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
38:32
trying to help assist with services that could be one way it could be that there's been a memorandum of understanding at a local medical clinic and the physician sees a pregnant mom and maybe she's not had any prenatal care and
she's eight months pregnant okay then that person might refer that parent to the head start program or early head start
Speaker 25
38:56
program to possibly receive services okay just
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
38:59
one more avenue as we try to also solve that issue in the state of Arkansas
one more thing to look at that we already had people in place they just perhaps need a little bit more of a resource
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
39:15
to help so thank you you're welcome we're small but mighty
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
39:19
that's okay representative Brown the more we talk the more questions I have are there
criteria that would prevent a child who might otherwise be eligible, say, could there be criminal convictions or just any kind of involvement with the legal system that could prevent a child from being eligible based on their parent's background or record? no a child
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
39:57
is eligible based on the eligibility requirement for income or if they fall under any
of those services that i listed such as ssi tana foster care homelessness all of those are eligibility criteria each head start program must create a selection criteria for their area for enrollment in their program. And every one of the questions on their selection criteria sets a particular scale of point systems, and that allows the child to be prioritized in the program.
Some programs may be located near, you know, a facility, and they have parents, a lot of the parents are incarcerated. Sometimes that is a higher point system depending on that
Speaker 14
40:55
program selection criteria. Thank you very much. I've got a quick question and
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
41:04
I'll come back to you, Representative Mayberry. Kind of along the same lines with the criteria of recruitment,
um tell me how the 10 with disabilities works um is is that something that happens generically pretty much or do you go out and look for families with uh developmental delays or is that just three to five or is it it's for like
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
41:34
start and the head start and they have be reported separately to the federal government as far as the percentage criteria the experiences
that we typically have in arkansas is that it happens organically yep yep children that first 45 days of enrollment and all of those assessments need to be completed most of the time programs will be able to meet their 10 enrollment criteria within that first 45 days that
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
42:04
would have been my I guess. Okay, great. Thank you. Representative Mayberry.
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
42:09
Thank you. I promise this will be the last set. Back to the maternal
mortality rate and just my thoughts there. So our other early
childhood education programs obviously don't do that. They don't, not that I'm aware of. They don't connect moms and the children to primary care doctors and all that. And I'm just thinking out loud that here we have these connections to these new moms and um very young children and possibly even you know a mom getting ready to have another child and just thinking big picture
is that a way that we can help in other areas um by by having some of our other programs not to give them more to do, but combine resources instead of everyone working in their own little silos. Has that ever been discussed? Has
that ever been talked about? Do you work with the
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
43:14
ABC program, for example? That is part of the role that I have as a Head Start Collaboration Director. Okay. My job is systems coordination. Okay. So that I can be a liaison
on between that program if their program has a high special needs rate how can we connect that program to the state resources so that every family is getting as many possible resources available to them to meet their need that is a mandate under the head start program performance standards system collaboration is required not
Speaker 25
43:53
only from the higher level at the at the director
level that i'm at but the local level as
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
44:04
well so a child in that didn't qualify for the head start that might be an abc
you're saying could have access to that is
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
44:17
that what well for instance If the child is in Head Start and maybe that the parents have made economic gains and now the child is no longer eligible based on income guidelines,
there would be an external referral to possibly an ABC program or a school readiness program within the state. but again connecting those families to resources is exactly the model that head
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
44:49
the child who's in abc um no one's asking that child in abc like you're asking do you have a primary care doctor do you have a dentist
do you have the abc
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
45:04
program uh program policies are quite distinct and different from the head start program policies and procedures one is at a state level and one is
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
45:16
at the federal level right but i'm just thinking if there could be some crossover that maybe we can do two for one you know i mean help
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
45:24
out more problems and there is there is an opportunity for uh for instance the school readiness if the parent is working i believe you mentioned that representative brown and the head start day
ends that child could also be served under the school readiness after school program so that the child gets a full day of service so the parents can remain in the workforce so those are some of the examples of what might be happening in in in utilizing the multiples resources okay okay thank you
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
45:54
it is we were just saying it's mind-boggling to try to coordinate all this so thank you for your for your taking on the responsibility of doing
that I've got one more question and I'm I'm not sure that you can answer it so much but this new rule change that the public comment is still out through April or to October 9th one of the concerns that I've heard is that the very thing that makes head start so great and that is the quality of the program could be impacted by the changes in this rule and I don't know whether
you can personally say what you think or whether the national organization has opinions on what's going on but is there anything that we can advocate with our federal folks or any concerns that you have that we need to be advocating with our federal folks about this rule change?
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
46:55
What's important to remember in my role is that my job is to to educate you on what stands for Head Start. I've shared with you today what our standards are, what we're tasked to do as a Head Start
nation and when federal changes are proposed it is it is important that everyone in that is connected to head start or possibly connected to head start read through those not notice the proposed rule changes and particularly how it affects each program locally to make a blanket statement would be be incorrect because changes are different based on the community needs and the strategic plan that
each program has. So I couldn't say specifically how the effects
Speaker 25
47:46
would be for Head Starts in Arkansas, but they would be different for each program. Thank you. And
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
47:56
I know that your position is a little bit different than the national organization. Has the organization put out any comments about about the rule change
Speaker 25
48:06
or their yes they have the National Head Start Association has comment in and you
Speaker 14
48:13
can access that perfect great thank you
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
48:15
very much any other questions I have one more actually and that is as advocates for early childhood across the state is there anything knowing that Head Start is a federal funded program is there anything that this committee can do to help make sure that we're collaborating or that all of our children are getting what they need with especially with the Head Start program is there anything that we can do for you basically is what I'm asking I think the
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
48:50
most important thing for us to remember is that we all have the goal of serving the children and families in Arkansas to the best of our ability and having my role in the office of early childhood allows the cross-section and collaboration to continue great and while you're here thank you for
Representative Denise Garner
Unverified
49:10
the office of OEC for being here even though I know a lot of the
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
49:15
department is out of town so thank you guys for being here and thank you for your collaboration with with with us and with stakeholders and with
these other organizations thank you for that Angela thank you so much thank you for doing what you're doing and for letting us know and please keep us informed before you go we'll make sure that we get slides so that we can get those passed out to everybody this is just the subcommittee but the education committee will get we'll get all of this information as well so thank you very much appreciate you and our next presentation is a report from Apple
organization Anna Morshetti and Anna if you would introduce yourself for the record and then you can get get on with your presentation and then we will ask questions at the end unless I see somebody pop up something that they just can't wait
Speaker 97
50:17
for that sounds wonderful well thank you madam chair and committee members for the opportunity to present today my name is Anna Morshetti and I'm I'm a policy director with Arkansas Appleseed Legal Justice Center, and I'm excited to get
to discuss our school readiness report that was published last week that examines early childhood education policies, and in this presentation, I will highlight our early education in Arkansas today and how we got here, what the current system costs, and the ROI, and policy options that aim to support the early childhood education system. Arkansas has built a strong mixed delivery system that gives families options when it comes to publicly
funded early childhood education, but the system is under financial pressure, which I know you have been discussing for the past year. According to the State of Preschool 2025 report that was published by the National Institute for Early Education Research. In the 24-25 school year, Arkansas Better Chance served just over 20,000 children, which represented 19% of three-year-olds and 33% of four-year-olds in Arkansas. And these are strong enrollment percentages that show
Arkansas's commitment to early education, but there is still a large gap between children served and children who could benefit. The Arkansas Department of Education released a report in 2023 that estimates that 120,000 children birth to age five are eligible for publicly funded care and education, but only about 38,000 are enrolled. And that means there are more than 81,000 eligible
children who are not participating in publicly funded programs. There are obviously many reasons for that, but the size of the gap indicates that we need to build enough capacity to make quality early learning available for more Arkansas families. As you know, the Arkansas legislature established the ABC program in 91, which included center-based programs, home visiting programs, and family child care homes. And then in 2003, Arkansas Better Chance for School Success was
created with additional focus on children ages three and four who face educational and economic challenges. And then last session, Act 504 merged ABC and ABCSS, creating one unified program with the same eligibility criteria. One of the most compelling sections of the report is the quality pre-k money that can be saved later in a child's k-12 education so the arkansas research center
examined students who received free school lunch and compared those who participated in abc pre-k with those who did not and for students who attended abc arkansas public schools spent an average of $73,600 per student to reach literacy proficiency by third grade and $85,100 per student for those who did not participate in ABC. And that difference of $11,500 per student is
substantially larger than the annual ABC cost per child. The Arkansas Research Center also reported $2.37 in cost savings for every $1 spent on ABC Pre-K by the time the student reaches third grade. That return increases to $2.85 by fourth grade and $3.10 by fifth grade. One of the biggest challenges identified in the report is ABC funding, which has been stagnant
over the past decade. When you adjust for inflation, state ABC funding has been on the decline, which is putting pressure on providers to do more with less. The federal recovery dollars that were used to help fund ABC are now exhausted, which means ABC faces a funding decrease that needs to be replaced with sustainable state investment. ABC operates on a 60% state funding and 40% local match model. That local match can come from school districts, donated facility usage,
volunteers, other in-kind contributions. The local match can create geographic inequities because not every county or provider has the same economic resources. A wealthy community and a struggling rural community don't necessarily have the same ability to generate that match. It's vital that the funding conversation includes educators' pay, and according to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, Arkansas had an estimated 16,700 people working in the early
childhood sector in 2022, with a median wage of $11.04 per hour, while the state's living wage for a single adult at that same time was $14.34 per hour. Those in the early childhood education workforce are four times more likely to live in poverty than elementary and middle school teachers. A 2022 UAMS workforce study found that over half respondents reported difficulty paying basic household expenses. Four in ten reported running out of food or skipping meals
because of financial instability, and almost half reported using some form of financial assistance such as SNAP, WIC, or Medicaid. So there are four broad policy options for strengthening Arkansas's early childhood education system that I will just briefly review. Arkansas early childhood educators need incentives for completing an early childhood degree program, as well as supporting a career pathway from a child development associate degree to to a degree in early education with the step up
to wages salary supplement program ending in 2025 arkansas should consider supporting low wage earners in the early childhood education field with a tax credit bill like hb 1021 which was sponsored by representative garner in 25 to provide tiered levels of tax relief to incentivize the completion of additional trainings and degree programs. Arkansas could adjust the child care assistance program income eligibility rules for early childhood education staff, which is similar
to what Kentucky has done. This policy would address the cost of child care for the people who provide it. It's a unique workforce development tool that could be targeted to counties that have early childhood educator staff shortages. The federal teach scholarship program has been very successful in helping early childhood educators gain credentials and degrees and that program could be expanded with state funding. Small private providers do not always have the same opportunities or economies
of scale as pre-k programs that are operating in a public school setting and we are interested in a sliding scale approach to the abc local match requirement particularly for rural counties child care deserts and communities with high levels of poverty arkansas could also extend abc provider contracts from one to two years to reduced administrative burdens arkansas would benefit greatly from a centralized data reporting for early childhood education
to accurately assess public and private enrollment across the state. In the 24-25 school year, 53 percent of Arkansas's four-year-old population was enrolled in publicly funded early childhood education, and that includes ABC, special education, and Head Start. Arkansas could make every four-year-old eligible for ABC participation. When looking at enrollment growth projections for a universal pre-K-4 access model,
we examined 11 states that have both the universal pre-K-4 access and a mixed delivery model like ours. And the average pre-K-4 participation rate across those states is 63 percent for four-year-old population. So if Arkansas reached that rate of enrollment, it would require approximately 4,268 additional ABC pre-K four slots, which at the current rate
would cost approximately 21.8 million annually. According to NEAR, Arkansas ranks 26th in the nation for state pre-k spending per child. The current ABC rate is $5,105 per student per year, or about $28 per day, based on a 178-day school year. The School Readiness Assistance Program, which is federally funded, has a base reimbursement rate of $33 per day for a pre-k student.
If Arkansas brought the ABC rate up to that SRA benchmark, it would be an additional $769 per student per year, which would require $15.6 million more annually. And that would raise the ABC rate to $5,874 per student, which is still far below NEAR's national average of $8,124 per student.
Last November, Arkansas replaced its previous six levels of quality-based reimbursement structure with three payment levels that you can see on the slide. Reverting back to the previous six-level reimbursement structure would improve reimbursement rates for providers and incentivize quality enhancements. Arkansas has more than three decades of experience with an established mixed delivery system, but the system is facing real pressures. Funding has not kept pace with inflation. Federal recovery
dollars have expired. Early childhood educators earn substantially less than comparable K-12 educators, and thousands of eligible children remain outside publicly funded early learning programs so investing in school readiness is an investment in Arkansas's children but it's also an investment in Arkansas schools workforce and economy thank you for your time and once again that is
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
1:01:31
a lot of information and we certainly appreciate it
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
1:01:35
any questions representative mayberry always um
so the report didn't get too much into the number of um facilities that we have around the state or how many may have closed or are on the verge of closing do
you all have any information to share along
Speaker 97
1:01:59
that lines for that data i think what has been shared with this committee in the past is really focused on the SRA funding changes and how that has affected those providers and so I would need to dig a little bit
to see for ABC providers what that change has been since that is in that separate funding bucket so that is something I could look into and but I guess in your in your studies and your
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
1:02:24
research have you talked to providers that are saying you know I used to be able to get by and now we're
hanging on a shoestring. I don't know how we're going to pay the bills next month. I don't know how we're going to do this. Are you hearing that? Are you experiencing that? And
Speaker 97
1:02:41
that, I think, would be a wonderful question for
providers. I was really focused on the research data component of it, so I think they would be able to provide some insight into that. Okay. I'll
Representative Denise Garner
Unverified
1:02:58
get back in. And I think, I think, Representative Mayberry, that
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
1:03:02
this is just kind of a gathering of data so that we have a place to start to get those kinds of questions answered. And there's a lot of it here, so thank you for that.
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
1:03:17
Any other questions? Representative Mayberry? I'll ask more questions if there wasn't somebody else. Okay. So I'm going to go back to kind of the first little section here. And if I'm reading correctly, where was the chart? You said there was 120,000, where is that? 120,000 children who are eligible, who qualify, and that there's only 38,000 enrolled.
So are you telling me that we have 82,000 children in the state of Arkansas that actually could be on a waiting list, but their
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
1:04:04
families haven't put them on a waiting list? Is that what you're saying,
Speaker 97
1:04:10
that the need really is that there's 82,000 children? Yes. So this data right here was presented by the Arkansas Department of Education. And so this is their numbers that they have reported from 2023. So looking at how many children would be eligible over all of the different publicly funded early childhood education programs that we have
and how many are currently being served, there is that gap of 81,000 children who are
Speaker 113
1:04:39
not being served. Who would qualify with our current programs, but we hear that
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
1:04:45
the list is only about 3,000 or so. So I guess there's just families
that don't bother to fill out the paperwork or don't know about the program or that's a that's a big difference
Speaker 97
1:04:59
in numbers. Well, part of so the figure that you mentioned, the waiting list, the only waiting list that we have data for is for the SRA program.
So there is not any data on that is publicly available for how many children are waiting for an ABC spot. So that I think would be and going back to, you know, looking at some policy options, having a centralized database that you could see, you know, where are there, which counties have children who are eligible for these ABC spots who aren't getting them.
Um, I would imagine it's, it's not consistent across counties. It's probably varies. So, but without that, that data, it's hard to know where those pockets are and, you know, whether I would imagine there's a lot of childcare deserts in, in areas, but again, without knowing a little bit more about who could be on a wait list, it's hard to, to guess where those would
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
1:06:07
land. Okay. Yeah. But 82,000, that's a lot of children. And I guess, did it break it down
Speaker 97
1:06:20
that three-year-olds? So it did not, in terms of the children who are not being currently served, it did not break that down by age. But on the data from that screen I don't know if everyone can can see that but from that slide they did break down who is being served by age at this particular time for this snapshot that you can
see a little bit of the breakdown there so I would we would have to see if they could have some data that would break down a little bit more. I mean, it does look like if you glance at this, there's definitely more three and four-year-olds being served in those columns than some
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
1:07:09
of the younger children. That's where the greatest need is in those earliest of years. And I would assume because it's just harder for our facilities to provide the care at that age because it's less
cost effective um the the student teacher ratio um just makes it a little bit more costly um and and the compensation is just not there so um the other thing that you were pointing out was the the wage of the um workers and i'm just pointing out the eleven dollars i'm trying to go to that slide, $11 an
Speaker 117
1:07:48
hour, $11.04, something like that, I think was, was that average?
Speaker 97
1:07:53
That was, yes, so that was the median wage for early childhood educators from the 2022 data, and it is pretty striking to see the difference between that wage and the living wage and then again on that slide looking at the early childhood education workforce being four times more likely to live in poverty than elementary and middle school teachers is pretty striking
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
1:08:21
yeah and and the presentation that we just had from head start um the requirement that the teachers
do make the minimum licensing you know the the standard of the 50 000
um so that's i would assume head start probably doesn't have a problem finding teachers that would be an interesting
but they probably do have more qualifications it sounds like they do have to have you know higher certification or maybe bachelor's degree i i didn't ask those questions but um and i'm assuming that the person making the $11 an hour has minimum qualifications?
Speaker 97
1:09:02
I would need to look back and see if they had all early child education staff in one bucket for that $11.04. I do have that report, so I can send that over. That's just barely
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
1:09:19
minimum wage. I know. You know, and they have such an important job. Agreed. So, but I know that these providers are doing what they can to keep their place open and where they can save money.
They're having to save money, and that's on workforce. So, anyway, anyone
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
1:09:47
else? Thank you. I do want to just make sure I understand. So the almost 82,000 kids are eligible for services but are not receiving services. So some of them may be staying home with grandparents or the mother may be staying home. It may not be because they can't get to the services.
It could be there are lots of reasons. So it could be that they don't have access or they're in a desert or they don't understand the programs available. But there are some other reasons as well. And the other thing that I want to make sure that as we're talking about universal child care, we're talking about the availability or access, and you guys did a great job, I think, making sure that we said that, but every time I mention universal, not health care, that too,
but universal child care, there's an inclination for folks to think it's mandatory, and we're not saying mandatory at all. We're saying universal access. So I just wanted
Representative Denise Garner
Unverified
1:10:48
to make sure that that was said here. Representative Brown. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
1:10:58
When you say eligible, is that just children across the state, or is there an income component to this?
Speaker 97
1:11:08
So I can definitely pull how the Arkansas Department of Education created this report and the qualifications that they put in it. I would imagine what they are doing is looking at all the different eligibility requirements for the publicly funded early childhood education programs and looking at state data to see how many would fall into an eligibility bucket for various programs that are listed there in that chart.
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
1:11:41
because it well I guess we could get an answer maybe
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
1:11:52
Chris can you help us with that or
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
1:12:08
do you do you know okay okay this income is a determinant of
Speaker 6
1:12:18
eligibility right so both programs when
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
1:12:26
you think it would be nice if you know there were enough slots for all the kids But even if they aren't in an early childhood education program,
they could be getting quality care at home with grandma
Speaker 97
1:12:50
right? Correct. And I think that's a great point because when we were looking at states that are offering
universal pre-K-4 access with a mixed delivery model, none of them are reaching 100% participation. There will always be parents who have their children at home or who are not choosing to participate in programs. So I think even looking at that large gap of children who are eligible, it's not necessarily that the goal is that number, but just how large of a gap it is indicates there are definitely children who are eligible who are not able to receive early
Speaker 113
1:13:33
education at this time because we just don't have the the capacity correct all right
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
1:13:39
thank you very much so basically that's about that's about half of the children in arkansas that are eligible that are not receiving services for whatever reason does it mean does it mean they need those services or that we need that many slots but it may mean as one of the things we've talked about in here that we need to make sure that we're getting information to parents about child development or home visiting or some of the other programs as well.
So wouldn't you agree? Yes, I would.
Speaker 80
1:14:08
Well said. Thank you. Representative Mayberry. Thank you.
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
1:14:15
And those are excellent points. And I hope that I never make it sound like I think every child needs to be in child care. i i stayed home with my children i am in full support of mama raising their their children and being there and i don't regret a single minute of it i'm glad i was home i did work on the side
you know always around my children and i'm and i fully support women being at home so i don't ever want any of that to ever like make someone think that i think every child needs to be you know with someone else during the day um but side note uh also the the slide it's modernized per student abc funding um you have raised abc rate to sra bench rate well i'm sorry go up one
more slide modernized per student abc funding the first part of it okay um current abc that's what i'm looking at current abc rate is 5105 per student per year um just making note i think i make note of this every time we have meetings but it's been that rate for a very very like decades and um it used to be more or less aligned with what our per student funding is k-12 and
And every two years, Education Committee meets, there's more funding, that K-12 funding goes up, but this number has stayed stagnant and has stayed the same. And it used to be along the same lines, relatively. And even bumping it up to the 5,874, as you're suggesting, is still far from what the K-12 funding is for it. So I'm just making note of that, and would you agree that that is correct assessment?
Speaker 97
1:16:16
Yes, I think that is one of the big highlights from the report, is the need for an investment. Okay, thank you. Any other questions? I
Representative Denise Garner
Unverified
1:16:35
think we're good. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Ana, thank
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
1:16:38
you very much. Thank you guys for the report and for your reporting on it today.
Representative Denise Garner
Unverified
1:16:44
Thank you. Is there any other business for the committee?
Seeing no other business, we are adjourned. Thank you all for being here.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Consideration of a Motion to Approve the August 17, 2026, Meeting Minutes [Exhibit B]
C. Update on Arkansas Head Start and Early Head Start - Angela Blankenship, Head Start Collaboration Office Director, Arkansas Department of Education
D. Presentation of “School Readiness: An Examination of Early Childhood Education Policy” [Exhibit D] - Anna Morshedi, Policy Director, Appleseed Legal Justice Center
E. Other Business
F. Adjournment
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — EDUCATION - HOUSE EARLY CHILDHOOD SUBCOMMITTEE, Sep 14, 2026 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
| EXHIBIT B - Meeting Minutes 08-17-2026 | Exhibit | 1 | Official source ↗ |
| EXHIBIT D - Arkansas Appleseed - School Readiness Report | Exhibit | 31 | Official source ↗ |
| HANDOUT C -- Final Head Start Overview | Exhibit | 5 | Official source ↗ |
| HANDOUT D -- ECE Presentation | Exhibit | 20 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Speaker 2
Speaker 4
Speaker 6
Speaker 9
Anna Morshetti
Unverified
Angela Blankenship
Unverified
Speaker 17
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
Speaker 25
Speaker 27
Representative Denise Garner
Unverified
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
Speaker 54
Speaker 58
Speaker 14
Speaker 61
Speaker 59
Speaker 97
Speaker 110
Speaker 113
Speaker 117
Speaker 127
Speaker 80