March 3, 2013Op-ed

Huffington Post: Invest in Innovative Solutions That Work for Children and Families

by Michele Jolin

Federal/ Child Welfare/Economic/ 2013/

With the implementation of sequestration, harmful across-the-board cuts to solutions that address the needs of children and their families will further highlight the critical need for our policy makers to make funding decisions based on results.

“Let’s do what works and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind.”

Though President Obama said this in his latest State of the Union address, it sounds like something President George W. Bush might have said when signing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 into law to improve student performance and close achievement gaps, or when he was signing the reauthorization of Head Start in 2007 to require all Head Start providers to meet new, higher standards for serving children. It’s a simple premise that lawmakers in both parties should agree on: Let’s make sure that the federal government is supporting those solutions that we know work to ensure that every child has an equal shot at attaining the kind of education that will help them compete on a global level.