U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will deliver keynote remarks at the Save the Children Advocacy Summit on Tuesday, April 8 in Washington, D.C. His remarks, entitled "Early Childhood Education: The Key to America's Future," will discuss the importance of expanding access to high-quality preschool for all students, especially in rural areas, and the role home visiting programs play in narrowing achievement gaps before they begin. Secretary Duncan will also promote President Obama's Preschool for All proposal to expand access to high-quality learning for all four-year-olds and highlight the progress that has been made across the country to better serve America's youngest citizens.
Making high-quality preschool accessible is the single most important thing we can do to ensure opportunity for all young people in this country. The President's budget requests $1.3 billion in 2015 as part of $75 billion over 10 years in mandatory funding for Preschool for All to support the implementation of high-quality preschool programs to ensure that all children start kindergarten ready to learn. The proposal is based on a cost-sharing model that would help States serve all children from low- and moderate-income families, and create incentives for States to expand access to high-quality preschool for additional middle-class families.
Save the Children is the world's leading independent organization for children, working in about 120 countries on global and national policy to improve children's access to quality education, from pre-school care to adulthood.