Clark to announce education program
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Retired Army General Wesley K. Clark will announce a $70 billion early childhood education plan today that calls for universal access to preschool for 4-year-olds, an expansion of Head Start, and improvement in preschools' academic standards.
Clark will announce the plan this morning at a child-care center in Rochester. Clark said in an interview that his interest in early childhood education stems from his having advocated for the Head Start program on military bases.
"The sum total of my experience was, the earlier you start the better," Clark said.
Aides say Clark, a Democratic candidate for president, has expressed an interest in existing early childhood programs including one funded by Susan A. Buffett, the daughter of investor Warren Buffett.
Clark's plan would provide $50 billion in block grants to states for creating voluntary preschool programs that focus on preparing toddlers to learn reading and math. He would hold states to "school readiness standards" and require "lead teachers" to have a bachelor's degree and training or experience in early childhood education.
The new preschool programs would be free for low-income families and available to middle-income families on a sliding fee scale, though states would have flexibility in how to spend the money. States that already come close to providing preschool for all 4-year-olds could use the money to expand the program to 3-year-olds.
Clark also would spend $20 billion over 10 years on increased funding for Head Start, an existing federal program geared toward low-income families, which also provides nutrition, health, and counseling services. Clark would expand the program, which now covers 912,000 children, to 1 million children. He would give states money to increase standards for teachers, mandating that lead teachers have bachelors' degrees and assistants have associate credentials.
Under Clark's plan, low-income parents would be able to choose whether to place their children in Head Start or the alternative program.
Clark aides say he would pay for the plan through a repeal of President Bush's tax cut on families earning more than $200,000, savings he says could be generated through shifts in Iraq policy and eliminating corporate welfare and some government programs.
Clark has estimated the savings at $2.35 trillion. So far, he has proposed putting that money toward a $695 billion health care plan, a $30 billion veterans' plan, a $15 billion expanded AIDS policy, and today's $70 billion program.
Several other candidates have called for expansions in Head Start and have been critical of what they say is President Bush's unwillingness to fund the program further.
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman released a plan last week that set a "long-term goal" of universal preschool for 4-year-olds, provided through a combination of community centers, schools, for-profit day care centers, and religious institutions.
Clark has expressed affection for preschoolers on the campaign trail, sometimes imitating their high-pitched voices. This fall, Clark played with preschoolers in Salem, N.H., for an hour.
