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Financing Early Care and Education (F4EQ) Study

Group of toddlers sitting at table and playing with soft modelling clay in a classroom
Exploring Head Start financing strategies and the landscape of state-level early care and education (ECE) financing policy
  • Client
    Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) at the Administration for Children & Families (ACF)
  • Dates
    2022 – 2027

Problem

The federal government needs data on Head Start funding strategies and the state-level policy contexts in which programs make funding decisions. 

Amid the movement in early care and education (ECE) to improve quality and better meet the needs of families, children, and the workforce, many ECE program leaders use multiple funding sources to meet the full cost of delivering high-quality programming. Further, leaders at the systems level (e.g., states, counties, large cities, etc.) implement and sometimes coordinate ECE financing policies and funding sources in ways that impact how programs make funding decisions. How funds are coordinated by system leaders or combined by programs may have critical implications for program quality, workforce strength, and equity in access and outcomes for young children and their families. However, decision makers have limited evidence about the national prevalence of ECE funding approaches, the system-level policies that encourage or inhibit combining funding, or local- and state-level coordination strategies. Of particular interest is how Head Start—the federal government’s largest ECE program—uses their federal funding alongside state and local sources to provide high-quality, comprehensive services.

Solution

NORC conducted an environmental scan, literature review, key informant interviews, and fielded the first national surveys of ECE financing.

NORC partnered with Start Early, the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University, and independent consultant Margery Wallen to design and implement the first national study of Head Start program financing and the state and local policies that influence ECE program decisions. In particular, we want to better understand Head Start programs’ decision making around the use of multiple funding sources and the local and state contexts and conditions that influence those decisions. 

NORC administered two surveys targeted at Head Start program directors and state ECE administrators. To inform the development of those surveys, we completed a number of early activities, including a review of the existing knowledge base, an environmental scan of policies and regulations around the use of multiple ECE funding sources at the state level, key informant interviews, and consultations with technical experts.

Result

NORC’s early research and surveys will provide a clearer picture of ECE financing.

Key early findings provided crucial context to guide survey development:

  • Many Head Start programs seem to use multiple funding sources, including some common sources such as the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), state pre-K, city or regional pre-K, foundation grants, program endowments, local prevention initiatives, and family co-pays. However, we do not yet know the prevalence of this nationally.
  • Programs seek out multiple funds to implement comprehensive, high-quality care, which can help improve access and better meet the needs of location communities and priority populations. However, we do not yet know how programs use multiple funds to meet these goals and at what cost.
  • Variation in requirements or restrictions across different ECE funding sources presented challenges to programs using more than one funding source, including increased administrative burden and costs. However, we do not yet know how varying state and local policies and supports influence how easy or difficult it is for programs to use multiple funds. 
  • Governance structures and integration of Head Start within other state ECE funding sources, such as state pre-K or state CCDF implementation, seem to affect whether and how programs used multiple funding sources. However, there is little documentation of the relationship between state governance structure and Head Start integration into the broader ECE system or the availability and quality of guidance and direct supports related to states’ or programs’ use of multiple funding sources. 

Survey analyses, which will be publicly available in late 2025, will further illuminate the national picture of Head Start program financing and the state and local policies that influence ECE program decisions. Building on this foundational work, the project may include such additional activities as: 

  • Case studies to better understand the implementation of coordinated funding approaches that include Head Start in variable policy contexts and at multiple levels of the ECE system
  • Special topics activities in response to emerging policy or analytic questions to expand the knowledge obtained from this study

Are You a Study Participant?

Questions about the survey? Experiencing technical difficulties? Contact us:

Project Leads

Key Project Staff

Mitch Barrows
Project Manager

"Early care and education is a fragmented set of systems offering multiple funding options to providers, who then have to navigate how to weave those funds together to provide the best care for children and families. It is crucial to understand how Head Start providers make those decisions—and how those decisions are influenced by local and state systems and policies. Only then can system-level leaders find better ways to support more cohesive and equitable programming."

Senior Research Scientist

"Early care and education is a fragmented set of systems offering multiple funding options to providers, who then have to navigate how to weave those funds together to provide the best care for children and families. It is crucial to understand how Head Start providers make those decisions—and how those decisions are influenced by local and state systems and policies. Only then can system-level leaders find better ways to support more cohesive and equitable programming."

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