Proposal already drawing bipartisan support

Media Contact: Brendan Daly (202.794.1580)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 22, 2015) — Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) today unveiled a toolbox of innovative financing solutions aimed at bridging the gap between lawmakers’ desire to expand access to early childhood education and balance the budget. Offering ideas that appeal to Republicans and Democrats alike, SCAN’s Innovative Financing for Early Childhood Education gives lawmakers a variety of options to fund the early learning programs that have been identified as key to ensuring the future success of our children and country.

SCAN proposes a variety of funding mechanisms, ranging from expanding private investment through municipal bonds, to new excise taxes, to harnessing savings by cutting wasteful government spending, to creating parity between savings opportunities for higher education and early education.

“Providing the next generation of Americans with access to quality early childhood education is something many members of both parties agree on — except when it comes to how to finance it. While we see a lot of focus on what early childhood programs should look like, at SCAN we’re focused on helping lawmakers find creative ways to fund these critically important programs,” said Mark Shriver, president of SCAN.

The proposals detailed in SCAN’s paper are already garnering bipartisan support. Recently, Save the Children Action Network and the American Enterprise Institute co-hosted a roundtable on social impact bonds, one of SCAN’s suggestions for expanding private sector involvement in funding early childhood education. Attendees of the roundtable included representatives from the Institute for Child Success, to Goldman Sachs.

“It’s great to see an organization like Save the Children addressing difficult questions about how to best serve young children through innovative funding mechanisms for early education,” said Katharine B. Stevens, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Education Policy Studies, The American Enterprise Institute.

Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) is a newly formed political advocacy arm of Save the Children that is focused on securing quality early childhood education in the U.S.

To learn more about Save the Children Action Network and explore the toolbox further, click here.

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Save the Children Action Network is the political voice for kids. We believe that every child deserves the best start in life. That’s why we’re building bipartisan will and voter support to make sure every child in the U.S. has access to high-quality early learning and that no mother or child around the globe dies from a preventable disease or illness. By investing in kids and holding leaders accountable, we are helping kids from birth to age five survive and thrive.