State Profiles

Alabama	Arkansas	California	Connecticut
Florida	Georgia	Illinois	Iowa
Kansas	Kentucky	Louisiana	Maine
Maryland	Massachusetts	New Jersey	New Mexico
New York	North Carolina	Ohio	Oklahoma
Oregon	Pennsylvania	South Carolina	Tennessee
Texas	Vermont	Virginia	Washington
Washington DC	West Virginia	Wisconsin

1988		The Iowa General Assembly established the Shared Visions program, a grant program to establish comprehensive pre-k programs for children up to 130 percent of poverty. While funding for Shared Visions has been sustained and research has shown its effectiveness, there have not been expansions of the program since the early 1990s.
1995		The Iowa General Assembly created Community Empowerment, which now covers the entire state and provides block grant funding through state and federal (TANF) funds. Community Empowerment Boards develop school readiness plans and allocate Empowerment funds based upon that plan, with approximately 60 percent of state funding going toward family support and parenting education and the remaining going to enhancing early care and education programs.
1996-2003		Community Empowerment receives some modest increases in funding, and Iowa's childcare subsidy program is expanded, primarily through federal TANF and CCDBG funds. Iowa's childcare subsidy program has one of the lowest eligibility cut-offs (140 percent of poverty) among states, despite the fact that Iowa has one of the highest rates of workforce participation of families with young children.
2004		During the summer, Governor Vilsack tours the state promoting investments in early childhood and chairs an education task force, the Iowa Learning Council. The Learning Council includes a broad range of recommendations for early learning, including expansion of Shared Visions and pre-k. Governor Vilsack sets a goal of 90 percent of all three and four year olds participating in a pre-k program. In the fall, the Urban Education Network issues its financing report, calling for a $90 million "down payment" in early childhood, with $15 million for Shared Visions or other pre-k programs.
2005		In January, Governor Vilsack proposes $39.1 million in new investments in early learning, including $20 million for Shared Visions, and other funding to improve child care quality and expand Community Empowerment. The House Republican Caucus unveils its early learning package in March, which includes $12.1 million for early childhood, with the majority of the funding going to Community Empowerment. The Caucus places an emphasis upon local decision-making regarding pre-k and greater state coordination of early childhood services. By May, negotiations between the House, Senate, and Governor result in $22 million in new funding, establishment of a quality rating system for childcare, and a new, dedicated funding pool for Community Empowerment explicitly for pre-k. This $4.6 million represents the largest increase in funding for pre-k since the establishment of Shared Visions in 1988.
2007		The state provides $60 million over four years for the Statewide Voluntary Four-Year-Old Preschool Program, expanding access to 4,580 children for the 2007-08 school year.

Governor Chet Culver continued the charge for pre-k in Iowa by making good on his campaign promise of pre-k for all and with the program's inclusion in the school funding formula, made a long lasting committment to young IIowans.

Governor Tom Vilsack made early childhood a top priority of their administration, proposing more than a tripling of the investment in the Shared Visions pre-k program.

Early Childhood Iowa, a statewide public and private planning group involving over 300 Iowans, established a strategic framework for early childhood that incorporated expansion of pre-k as a key element of that system.

The Urban Education Network (UEN), composed of the superintendents of the largest eight school districts in the state, identified early learning as a key to closing the achievement gap and led Early Childhood Iowa in developing a financing strategy.

Every Child Counts, a new child advocacy arm of the Child and Family Policy Center, provided staff support to UEN in developing the financing strategy and led advocacy efforts for investments in early learning during the legislative session.

The Iowa Business Council, a council of the largest twenty employers in the state, took on early childhood as a policy focus, with Barry Griswold, Chief Executive Officer of Principal Financial Group, being a strong spokesperson for increased investments.

Policymakers will need to be vigilant to keep the funding for this new legislative initiative on track, assure programs are well implemented, recruit well-trained early educators, ensure diverse delivery of pre-k programs, and provide more than the minimum 10 hours per week of classroom time. Only with continued leadership from lawmakers on quality and funding will Iowa’s new program succeed in providing children with the experiences necessary to secure bright and successful futures for generations of young Iowans.