Early childhood education is critical, particularly for low-income families. My Archbridge Institute colleague and Nobel Prize winner James Heckman has written extensively on this topic.
This is why the Trump administration’s proposed reforms to Head Start are so badly needed. In the real world, resources are not unlimited. We simply can’t afford to continue devoting increasing amounts of taxpayer funding to every program that we like. The national debt is rapidly approaching $40 trillion.
So, how do we address the challenge of improving access to early childhood education without utilizing additional scarce taxpayer resources?
Proponents on both sides of the aisle have embraced deregulation as a solution.
The truth is that Head Start regulations are currently much more burdensome than what most states impose on childcare facilities.
In an Archbridge Institute report from earlier last year, we ranked Head Start regulations with each individual state regulation. Consistently, we ranked Head Start regulations as more burdensome than each individual state’s regulations.
Instead of reducing the regulations Head Start imposes on childcare providers with respect to staff education requirements and child-to-staff ratios, the proposed rules give each individual state the flexibility to set rules in line with current state regulations.
Parents and states will value this flexibility. It eliminates top-down rigidity and empowers individual states to choose what is the right fit.
Continue reading at The Washington Examiner.
Edward Timmons, PhD, is Vice President of Policy at the Archbridge Institute. He leads the institute's economic policy strategy, identifying focus areas and disseminating work to key stakeholders and policymakers. His own research focuses on labor economics and regulatory policy; he is regularly asked to provide expert testimony to U.S. states on occupational licensing reform and the practice authority of nurse practitioners. Dr. Timmons received his Ph.D. in economics from Lehigh University and his B.A. in economics and actuarial science from Lebanon Valley College. He publishes a weekly newsletter on Substack with the latest research and policy insights surrounding occupational licensing.
Economics of Flourishing
Early childhood education is critical, particularly for low-income families. My Archbridge Institute colleague and Nobel Prize winner James Heckman has written extensively on this topic.
This is why the Trump administration’s proposed reforms to Head Start are so badly needed. In the real world, resources are not unlimited. We simply can’t afford to continue devoting increasing amounts of taxpayer funding to every program that we like. The national debt is rapidly approaching $40 trillion.
So, how do we address the challenge of improving access to early childhood education without utilizing additional scarce taxpayer resources?
Proponents on both sides of the aisle have embraced deregulation as a solution.
The truth is that Head Start regulations are currently much more burdensome than what most states impose on childcare facilities.
In an Archbridge Institute report from earlier last year, we ranked Head Start regulations with each individual state regulation. Consistently, we ranked Head Start regulations as more burdensome than each individual state’s regulations.
Instead of reducing the regulations Head Start imposes on childcare providers with respect to staff education requirements and child-to-staff ratios, the proposed rules give each individual state the flexibility to set rules in line with current state regulations.
Parents and states will value this flexibility. It eliminates top-down rigidity and empowers individual states to choose what is the right fit.
Continue reading at The Washington Examiner.
Edward Timmons
Edward Timmons, PhD, is Vice President of Policy at the Archbridge Institute. He leads the institute's economic policy strategy, identifying focus areas and disseminating work to key stakeholders and policymakers. His own research focuses on labor economics and regulatory policy; he is regularly asked to provide expert testimony to U.S. states on occupational licensing reform and the practice authority of nurse practitioners. Dr. Timmons received his Ph.D. in economics from Lehigh University and his B.A. in economics and actuarial science from Lebanon Valley College. He publishes a weekly newsletter on Substack with the latest research and policy insights surrounding occupational licensing.
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