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Cohen: GOP Education Plan Slashes Millions for Shelby County Preschoolers, Takes Hope and Opportunity from Our Children

August 18, 2015

[MEMPHIS, TN] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today blasted Congressional Republican efforts to eliminate a program Shelby County Schools expects to receive a reported $7 million from for preschool services. The elimination of the Preschool Development Grant program, as proposed in the Republican education plan awaiting a vote in the House and Senate, could prevent nearly 7,500 low- and moderate-income Tennessee children from attending pre-school, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

“The Republican education plan would be disastrous for Memphis children and families,” said Congressman Cohen. “We know that children who receive support from programs like preschool and Head Start have a better shot at successful lives, but the Republican plan would take away their hope and opportunity by slashing millions from those same programs. We should be expanding preschools like the President has called for, not closing their doors on our children.”

President Obama’s 2016 budget proposal would have expanded the Preschool Development Grant program, a 4-year program that helps communities provide high-quality preschool services they would otherwise not provide. This expansion would have helped provide preschool to an estimated 350,000 additional children nationwide, but the Republican plan would simply end the program before it can complete its final two years, jeopardizing plans to serve nearly 60,000 additional students across the nation, leaving more than 40,000 current students in preschools that require improvements, and putting more than $640 million in pledged local, state, and public-private partnership funding at risk.

The Republican education plan would have far reaching consequences outside of preschool as well. Either more than 570,000 children in Head Start would not receive the full-day, full-year services they need to succeed, the program would serve 140,000 fewer children as compared to the President's Budget, or some combination of both. In contrast, the President’s Budget is guided by compelling evidence that students who spend more time in high-quality early learning programs learn more. It provides a $1.5 billion increase for Head Start so that all Head Start children have access to a full school day and year of high-quality instruction and to increase enrollment. Earlier today, Congressman Cohen announced more than $1.1 million for Early Head Start programs at Porter-Leath in Memphis.