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Assistance Center
Anne Mitchell and Louise Stoney
Quality
Rating and Improvement System Financial Incentives
Updated November 2008
Written
by Anne W. Mitchell, Kristen Kerr and Juana Armenta - Early Childhood
Policy Research
The information in this table was collected in spring and fall
2008 from publicly available information on websites and in publications.
Stair
Steps to Quality - A guide for states and communities developing quality
rating systems for early care and education
Written by Anne Mitchell, Alliance for Early Childhood Finance-
2005
Using
Tax Credits to Promote High Quality Early Care and Education Services
Louise Stoney and Anne Mitchell November 20, 2007
Tax credits have been used in a variety of policy areas to encourage increased
investments in programs seen as “social goods,” such as clean
energy and charitable donations. This paper explores financing strategies
for early childhood programs by examining whether carefully crafted individual
or business tax credits/deductions could 1) help finance early care and
education and 2) spur additional private investment and create incentives
for families to use, and early childhood program to offer, high- quality
services.
Comparison
of Financial Incentives in State’s Quality Improvement and Rating
Systems
By Kristen Kerr and Anne Mitchell, Early Childhood Policy Research December
2006
Smarter
Reform: A National Policy Agenda for an Early Care and Education System
Louise Stoney and Anne Mitchell, co-founders of the Alliance for Early
Childhood Finance, offer a five point plan for early care and education
from the federal/national perspective.
Smarter
Reform: Moving Beyond Single Program Solutions to an Early Care and Education
System
By Anne Mitchell, Louise Stoney and Mildred Warner
Published in the Journal of the Community Development Society, Vol. 37,
No. 2, Summer 2006
A
Consultative Session on Establishing an Early Care and Education Private
Employer Organization (PEO)
Summary prepared by Louise Stoney on behalf of the Wisconsin Regional
Training Partnership. The focus of the discussion and summary is on how
a PEO could be used as a solution to resolving compensation inequities
within the early care and education industry.
Beyond the Comfort Zone: New Ideas for the Early Care and Education Industry
By Louise Stoney, this paper provides an overview of the Kellogg-funded
Venture Grant Initiative. The Venture Grant Initiative was designed to
spawn innovative new ideas that linked child care and economic development.
This paper profiles grant recipients, what they accomplished in the first
year, and where their work is heading.
Success Stories: State
Investment in Early Care and Education in Illinois, North Carolina and
Rhode Island
By Anne Mitchell for Smart Start's National Technical Assistance Center
April 2005
Read the strategies, successes and lessons learned in three states that
have been very successful in securing significant public investment in
early childhood.
Financing
Quality Rating Systems: Lessons Learned
By Louise Stoney, Alliance on Early Childhood Finance for United Way
of America Success By 6, September 2004
Framing
Child Care as Economic Development: Lessons from Early Studies
Written by Louise Stoney in February 2004 for the Cornell University Linking
Economic Development and Child Care Research Project.
Collective Management of Early Childhood Programs:
Approaches That Aim to Maximize Efficiency, Help Improve Quality and Stabilize
the Industry.
Written by Louise Stoney, this is a collaborative publication of Smart
Start's National Technical Assistance Center and the Cornell University
Linking Economic Development and Child Care Research Project.
Financing
Early Care and Education: A Primer for County Leaders
This article was prepared by Louise Stoney for inclusion in a Tool Kit
developed by the National Association of Counties in April 2003 as part
of its Presidential Initiative on Early Childhood Development and School
Readiness.
Early
Care and Education System Reform: Key Elements
This article includes a model for building a high quality early care and
education system that builds on the existing administrative and fiscal
systems (Head Start, prek, child care subsidies, etc.) and is focused
around 5 key elements. (New)
Investing
in Child Care: Why Employers Should Support Publicly-Funded Child Care
This powerpoint presentation, developed by Louise Stoney for an American
Business Collaboration webcast in February, 2003, discusses why employers
should work with government to establish and finance early care and education
services. (New)
Financing
Strategies: Where Do We Go From Here?
This powerpoint presentation was used by Anne Mitchell and Louise
Stoney at the State Child Care Administrators Meeting in Washington, DC
in August, 2003. It summarizes lessons from the early childhood finance
reform learning community. (New)
A
Blueprint for New York State's Early Childhood System: Issues of Governance
and Finance
This memo was prepared by Louise Stoney for the Finance and Governance
Work Group in New York State. Click
here for the graphic
Financing
Early Care and Education in New York State
This briefing paper was prepared for the Early Child Care Education for
All Conference by Louise Stoney and describes a range of financing options,
including those currently used by states and cities as well as new approaches
that have yet to be tried. that was developed, which depicts the proposed
financing options.
Innovative
Strategies for Financing Quality Child Care
This PowerPoint presentation, prepared by Anne Mitchell, offers a comprehensive
overview of financing based on the 2001 edition of Financing Child Care
in the U.S. The presentation includes how child care is currently financed,
principles and lessons from other fields, innovative strategies in practice
and advice on crafting new solutions.
We
Don't Just Need More Money: Visioning a New Child Care Financing Structure
in Maine
This powerpoint presentation, prepared by Louise Stoney, discusses a range
of alternative ECE financing strategies that are based on "layered"
funding and combine portable and direct financing. The links to economic
development, and the need for new industry supports (to promote fiscal
stability and economies of scale) are also discussed. The speech ends
with a discussion of tax policy, and some new ideas that could provide
benefits for both families and programs.
Finance
Reform: Visioning a New Approach to ECE Finance
This paper accompanies the "We Don't Just Need More Money..."
PowerPoint presentation, and summarizes a speech given by Louise Stoney
at the Maine Head Start Director's Retreat in September 2002.
Child
Care Financing Matrix
This table, compiled by Louise Stoney and Karen Edwards, briefly summarizes
all of the profiles included in the 2001 edition of Financing Child Care
in the United States, as well as several new strategies that were identified
after the book was published. Organized by revenue source, the matrix
includes a brief summary of how each strategy works, states or cities
where it has been applied, potential uses of funds, and the dollars generated
each year.
Financial
Options for Universal Prekindergarten
Written by Anne Mitchell, describes several methods for 'blending' funding
to create higher quality, full working day programs using available resources
such as Head Start, public funds for child care, special education funds
and parent tuition. It is a technical assistance paper prepared to help
school districts and communities in New York make innovative use of the
state's new universal prekindergarten program. The concepts are described
in sufficient detail to make the paper useful to anyone interested in
creating early childhood programs using multiple funding sources.
Financing
Child Care in the United States: An Expanded Catalog of Current Strategies
2001 Edition
This updated catalog provides information on innovative financing strategies
that are successfully funding child care in the United States. The catalog
only profiles financing approaches that are currently being used. First
published in 1997, the 2001 edition offers 78 profiles of current financing
strategies. Each profile describes the strategy, when it was initiated,
the amount of funding it generates, how funds are distributed, what services
are funded, and who is eligible to receive them. The profiles also identify
other sites using similar financing strategies and contact information
so the reader can follow up for more information.
Investing
in Our Future: A Guide to Child Care Financing
This new book, co-authored by Louise Stoney, Scott Groginsky and Julie
Poppe, discusses the key principles for financing early childhood care
and education programs and highlights strategies that state legislatures
and other policy makers use to establish and support high quality services
for children. The book, which was published in 2002, may be purchased
for $30 from the National Conference of State Legislatures (g). Ask for
publication # 016157.
Looking
into New Mirrors: Lessons for Early Childhood Finance and System-Building
Advocates borrowing successful financing strategies pioneered in housing,
higher education, health care and education finance for use in early childhood
education. Those successful strategies can be translated into innovative
funding approaches for more and better child care and early education
for America's children who need it most. Hopefully the report will stimulate
discussion of these important questions: How should effective systems
be structured? Should financing systems support families, early childhood
programs, or both? What new funds might be generated, and how? Success
hinges on creative thinking. The report was sponsored by the Horizons'
Initiative, and funded by the James C. Penney Foundation. Printed copies
are available from the National Child
Care Information Center.
New
Perspectives on Compensation Strategies
Offers thoughtful analysis of the persistent problem of low compensation
and strategies to address it. Includes descriptions of initiatives that
are working to improve compensation. Released in November 2000, 36 pages,
published by the Wheelock Institute for Leadership and Career Initiatives
Prekindergarten
Programs Funded by the States: Essential Elements for Policymakers
Delivers up-to-date information on state-funded prekindergarten programs.
Thirty-nine states - up from 28 states just ten years ago - currently
fund such programs. States are now serving from several hundred to over
60,000 children. Prekindergarten programs are designed to provide early
educational experiences for children younger than five that will help
prepare children to succeed in school. Descriptive tables of each state's
program(s) will assist decisionmakers and advocates in states to understand
the current range of prekindergarten program options. The descriptions
cover history, eligibility and access, funding levels, administrative
auspices, delivery systems, quality standards, staff qualifications, community
planning procedures, program performance assessment strategies and evaluation.
The introduction provides a brief analysis across states illustrated by
several comparison tables. Report was released in September 1998 by the
Families and Work Institute, 93 pages.
Prekindergarten
Programs in the States: Trends and Issues (July 2001)
Offers a brief update on states' prekindergarten policies and current
funding levels and discusses trends over the last 30 years and current
issues surrounding the growth of Pre-k, such as the role of community-based
programs, quality concerns, working families' needs and 'universal' preschool.
The
Role of States And The Federal Government In Promoting Prekindergarten
and Kindergarten
By Anne W. Mitchell, April 2001, is part of the Working Papers series
from the Foundation for Child Development. This paper describes the research
rationale for early childhood education, provides current data on prekindergarten
(i.e., preschool, child care, and Head Start) and kindergarten programs
and policy, and describes what states and the federal government can do
to create an early education system.
The
Status of Preschool Policy in the States
In this paper, Helen Blank and Anne Mitchell define prekindergarten programs,
categorize states' prekindergarten policies and programs, and describe
the history and current status of prekindergarten in the United States
at the end of 2001. The paper discusses trends and issues relevant to
prekindergarten policy and program implementation such as teacher qualifications,
program standards, curriculum, spending and enrollment growth, access
for children of working families, and the move to universal preschool.
Appendixes include helpful charts of funding by state for both preschool
and Head Start and brief descriptions of each state's program.