Early childhood education and development programs can have a lasting influence on a child, laying the foundation for future success.

Despite this considerable investment, serious questions remain as to whether these federal programs are producing the positive results our kids deserve.

That's why states are once again increasing resources for early childhood programs, with at least 30 states bolstering early education investments in the last year.

The current system is simply broken.

Expenditures for child care under the Child Care Development Block Grant Program may actually do harm to some children.

The results from early model programs cannot be generalized to present-day investments.

Last fall, Congressman Hanna of New York and I introduced the Strong Start for America's Children Act, a bold, innovative 10-year federal-state partnership that would expand and improve early learning opportunities for children nationwide.

They will tell you how important it is that their children are in a safe, high-quality learning environment.

These troubling studies highlight the need to assess the challenges facing Head Start and consider smart reforms to strengthen the program.

Despite what you may hear from critics, early childhood education has been proven over and over again to generate a substantial return on investment.

We are not getting our money's worth from present federal expenditures on early childhood services.

State programs may be no more effective than Head Start.

Only some children need pre-K services to be ready for school and life.

I was the author of that amendment to force Head Start to re-compete. I got all the arrows in my back to prove it, but I think it is very important.

It is worth pointing out... before these programs were mandated... fewer than 15 percent of pre-K classrooms were good to excellent.

We sadly do not have unlimited resources.

We ought to be focusing our efforts here on the children that need this the most--on lower income.

Yes, we have programs for homeless kids and programs for kids with disabilities and programs with kids with autism.