EARLY Act
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Expanded Access to Real Learning for our Young Act or the EARLY Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award competitive grants to states to carry out full-day prekindergarten programs.
Requires those programs to:
be located at public schools, if practicable, or otherwise carried out by private or other community providers;
permit parents, regardless of income, to voluntary enroll their four-year old children in the programs and do so at no cost if their combined income does not exceed 400% of the poverty line;
be full-day programs that run the length of the regular school year;
maintain a maximum class size of 20 children, with at least 1 prekindergarten teacher per classroom;
ensure that the ratio of children to prekindergarten teachers and teacher aides does not exceed 10 to 1;
be taught by teachers who are paid a salary comparable to kindergarten through grade 12 teachers at the state's public schools; and
meet a minimum level of parental engagement set by the state.
Requires the Secretary to give grant priority to states that carry out such programs at public schools.
Prohibits the federal share of a grant from exceeding 75% of the prekindergarten program's costs.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on December 16, 2013. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on December 16, 2013: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
SUSAN DAVIS (D-CA) introduced it on December 16, 2013, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 3 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on December 16, 2013, 4651 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4651 days ago, on December 16, 2013.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers