Education-Helping children and youth achieve their potential:
LAUW supports measures that increase access to high quality early care and education opportunities, especially for low-income children and their families. LAUW also supports the maintenance of the Child Care Tax Credit (CTC) and the School Readiness Tax Credit.
LAUW is a founding member of the Ready Louisiana Coalition and proudly helped advocate for the $44 million in new state funding for early care and education for Louisiana children.
Ninety percent of brain development happens between birth and age four — that means the very foundation of a child’s capacity to learn, grow and succeed is established before kindergarten. In fact, 60 percent of Louisiana children begin kindergarten behind their peers and children who begin school behind generally remain behind. As you can see, early childhood experiences and learning have a lifelong impact on every human being – yet too many working parents cannot afford to send their children to a quality early care facility.
A lack of affordability presents hard choices for ALICE households, which can lead to risky compromises in the standards of care, health, and learning. According to the ALICE Report for Louisiana, childcare is the largest household expenditure for young families. Two in three parents with young children are in the workforce and unable to access child care due to cost. Early child care and education in our state costs almost as much as public in-state college tuition, making it unaffordable for many families.
Sustainable investments in our youngest learners help to ensure that more children will enter kindergarten ready to learn and succeed in life. For each dollar invested to help children gain access to consistent, high quality, and affordable childcare and early learning, our state can save up to $17 over the long-term.
Join the conversation on social media: #ReadyLouisiana #CTC @launitedways