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United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO: 

Testimony: 

Before the Committee on Education and the Workforce, House of 
Representatives: 

For Release on Delivery: 
Expected at 10:00 a.m. EST: 
Wednesday, February 5, 2014: 

Early Learning And Child Care: 

Federal Funds Support Multiple Programs with Similar Goals: 

Statement of Kay E. Brown: 
Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security: 

GAO-14-325T: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-14-325T, a testimony before the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce, House of Representatives. 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

Millions of children under the age of 5 participate each year in 
federally funded preschool and other early learning programs or 
receive federally supported child care in a range of settings. Federal 
programs that funded early learning and child care as an explicit 
purpose received approximately $14.2 billion in federal funding in 
fiscal year 2012. This testimony discusses existing federally funded 
programs that provide or support early learning or child care services 
for children and the extent to which these programs are administered 
by multiple federal agencies, have similar goals, or provide the same 
services. It is based on work done for GAO's 2012 annual report on 
opportunities to reduce duplication, overlap, and fragmentation in 
federal government programs, see [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-342SP], which updated earlier work 
in this area. For that report, GAO searched the Catalog of Domestic 
Federal Assistance to identify relevant programs; obtained 
supplementary information from Education, HHS, and other agencies; and 
reviewed previous GAO reports. In January 2014, GAO updated 
information on expenditures for selected programs. 

What GAO Found: 

The federal investment in early learning and child care is 
administered through 45 programs that provide or may support related 
services to children from birth through age 5, as well as five tax 
provisions that subsidize private expenditures in this area. Among the 
45 programs, 12 have an explicit program purpose of providing early 
learning or child care services. These programs differ in size, target 
population, and structure. For example, most of them obligated less 
than $500 million each in fiscal year 2012, while the largest program, 
Head Start, obligated approximately $8 billion in that year. The 
remaining 33 programs identified in GAO's 2012 report permit the use 
of funds for delivering or supporting early learning or child care 
services, but this is not their explicit purpose. These programs 
include multipurpose block grants, such as Temporary Assistance for 
Needy Families, for which early learning or child care is not a 
primary purpose but which may nevertheless provide significant funding 
for child care. They also include programs that may allow funds to be 
used for early learning or child care, but these are not among their 
primary goals and do not typically account for a significant portion 
of available program funds. Finally, five federal tax provisions 
support early learning and child care by forgoing tax revenue to 
subsidize the private purchase of child care services. These five tax 
expenditures accounted for at least $3.1 billion of forgone tax 
revenue for the U.S. Treasury in fiscal year 2012. 

The multiple programs that compose the federal investment in early 
learning and child care are administered by multiple agencies and 
include programs that have similar goals and potential for both 
duplication and service gaps. The 45 programs identified in GAO's 2012 
report are concentrated within the Departments of Education 
(Education) and Health and Human Services (HHS)—the principal 
administrators of the federal government's early learning and child 
care programs—but are also administered by the Departments of 
Agriculture, the Interior, Justice, Labor, Housing and Urban 
Development, the General Services Administration, and the Appalachian 
Regional Commission. Some of these programs overlap in that they 
have similar goals for children under the age of 5 and are targeted to 
similar groups of children. For example, five programs, administered 
by Education and HHS, provide school readiness services to low-income 
children, and programs in both Education and the Interior provide 
funding for early learning services for Indian children. Administering 
similar programs in different agencies can create an environment in 
which programs may not serve children and families as efficiently and 
effectively as possible. Although some programs fund similar types of 
services for similar populations, several factors contribute to 
difficulty determining whether these programs are duplicative—that is, 
whether they provide the same services to the same beneficiaries. 
These factors include differing program structures and eligibility 
requirements as well as inadequate or missing data. Despite some 
program overlap and the potential for duplication, it is likely that 
service gaps exist since these programs generally are not designed to 
serve all eligible children. Coordinating the administration and 
evaluation of early learning and child care programs can help mitigate 
the effects of program overlap and potentially help bridge service 
gaps. 

Actions Needed: 

In its 2012 report, GAO noted that Education and HHS needed to extend 
their coordination efforts to other agencies with early learning and 
child care programs. As of December 2013, the agencies had taken 
initial steps toward greater coordination but need to follow through 
with their plans to include these other federal agencies in an inter-
departmental workgroup. 

View [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-325T]. For more 
information, contact Kay E. Brown at (202) 512-7215 or brownke@gao.gov. 

[End of section] 

Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Miller, and Members of the Committee: 

Thank you for inviting me to discuss federally funded early learning 
and child care programs. Millions of children under the age of 5 
participate each year in federally funded preschool and other early 
learning programs or receive federally supported child care in a range 
of settings. Federal programs that funded early learning and child 
care as an explicit purpose received at least $14.2 billion in 
federal funding in fiscal year 2012.[Footnote 1] 

My remarks today describe existing federally funded programs that 
provide or support early learning or child care services, and the 
extent to which these programs are administered by multiple federal 
agencies, have similar goals, or provide the same services. My 
testimony is based on one component of our 2012 annual report on 
opportunities to reduce duplication, overlap, and fragmentation in 
federal government programs.[Footnote 2] 

To develop the findings for our 2012 report, we searched the Catalog 
of Federal Domestic Assistance to identify federal early learning and 
child care programs; obtained supplementary information from the 
Departments of Education (Education), Health and Human Services (HHS), 
and other agencies; and reviewed previous GAO reports on early 
learning and child care.[Footnote 3] We used the following criteria to 
identify relevant early learning and child care programs: the programs 
(1) funded or supported early education or child care services, (2) 
were provided to children under age 5, and (3) delivered services in 
an educational or child care setting. We also obtained and analyzed 
descriptions of Education and HHS coordination efforts for early 
learning and child care programs, but did not evaluate these efforts. 
[Footnote 4] The work this statement is based on was conducted in 
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 
sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe 
that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our 
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. In January 
2014 we updated information on selected programs' obligations and 
revenue losses relating to tax provisions. Further details on our 
scope and methodology can be found in our 2012 report.[Footnote 5] 

Background: 

While parents are primarily responsible for the education and care of 
children who are younger than school age, a variety of factors over 
the last few decades, such as the increase in women's participation in 
the workforce and an earlier focus on school readiness in children, 
have led to an increased demand for early learning and child care 
programs. These trends have also played a part in expanding the 
federal role in providing early learning and child care through a 
variety of settings and programs. Federal support for early learning 
and child care has developed over time in response to emerging needs. 
Historically, early learning and child care programs existed 
separately with separate goals: early learning programs focused on 
preparing young children for school; in contrast, child care programs 
subsidized the cost of child care for low-income parents of infants, 
toddlers, and young children who were working or engaged in work-
related activities. Over time, the distinction between these two types 
of programs has blurred as policymakers seek to make educationally 
enriching care available to more young children. 

In addition to parents, multiple levels of government contribute 
significant amounts of funding to support of early learning and child 
care delivered in a variety of settings through a loosely connected 
system of private and public programs. Public financing for early 
learning and child care in the United States involves multiple funding 
streams and programs at various levels--federal, state, and local. A 
significant portion of federal support for child care is provided 
through funding to states that help provide subsidies to low-income 
families. Within the parameters of federal guidance and regulations, 
states generally determine their own specific policies concerning the 
administration of these funds, which include who is eligible to 
receive subsidies and the amount of the subsidy. 

The information in our 2012 report and that I will discuss today built 
on previous reports in which we found that multiple federal agencies 
administer this important investment through numerous programs. This 
work updated reports we issued in 2000 and 2005 that also found many 
programs providing or supporting education or care for children under 
the age of 5.[Footnote 6] Changes in the number and make-up of 
programs across these reports in part reflect programs that ended or 
were consolidated.[Footnote 7] 

Federal Funds Support Multiple Early Learning and Child Care Programs: 

Our 2012 report found that the federal investment in early learning 
and child care is administered through 45 programs that provide or may 
support related services to children from birth through age 5, as well 
as five tax provisions that subsidize private expenditures in this 
area. Among the 45 programs, 12 had an explicit program purpose of 
providing early learning or child care services.[Footnote 8] The 
remaining 33 programs did not have this explicit program purpose, but 
permitted use of funds for this purpose or provided supportive services 
to facilitate early learning or child care services. 

The 12 programs with an explicit program purpose of providing early 
learning or child care services differ in size, target population, and 
structure.[Footnote 9] (See table 1.) 

* In terms of size, most of the programs obligated less than $500 
million each in fiscal year 2012, while the largest program, Head 
Start, obligated approximately $8 billion in that year. 

* Regarding the target population, half of the programs targeted low-
income children and 3 programs targeted children with disabilities. 
Some programs also targeted other populations, such as Indian children 
or children whose low-income parents were pursuing post-secondary 
education. All 12 programs served children under the age of 5, but 6 
of the 12 programs also provided early learning or child care services 
for older children as well. 

* Finally, the 2 largest programs--Head Start and the Child Care and 
Development Fund (CCDF)--differed significantly in structure. Head 
Start, created to support children's early development by offering 
comprehensive, community-based services to meet multiple needs 
including child care, provides competitive federal grants directly to 
community-based public and private service providers. CCDF, which 
helps states reduce dependence on public assistance by subsidizing 
child care to support parents' involvement in the workforce, provides 
grants to states, which in turn generally provide funding as subgrants 
to counties or other local entities for distribution to parents. 

Table 1: Purposes and Targeted Populations of Federal Programs That 
Have Early Learning or Child Care as an Explicit Program Purpose as of 
2012: 

Department of Education: 

Program name by federal agency: Child Care Access Means Parents in 
School; 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Empty]; 
Child care services: [Check]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Empty]; 
Age group: Larger age group, including children under 5: [Check]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Check]; 
Children with disabilities: [Empty]; 
Other targeted populations: [Check]. 

Program name by federal agency: Indian Education-Grants to Local 
Educational Agencies; 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Check]; 
Child care services: [Empty]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Empty]; 
Larger age group, including children under 5: [Check]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Empty]; 
Children with disabilities: [Empty]; 
Other targeted populations: [Check]. 

Program name by federal agency: Race to the Top - Early Learning 
Challenge; 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Check]; 
Child care services: [Empty]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Check]; 
Larger age group, including children under 5: [Empty]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Check]; 
Children with disabilities: [Empty]; 
Other targeted populations: [Empty]. 

Program name by federal agency: Special Education-Grants for Infants 
and Families; 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Check]; 
Child care services: [Empty]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Check]; 
Larger age group, including children under 5: [Empty]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Empty]; 
Children with disabilities: [Check]; 
Other targeted populations: [Check]. 

Program name by federal agency: Special Education-Preschool Grants; 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Check]; 
Child care services: [Empty]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Check]; 
Larger age group, including children under 5: [Empty]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Empty]; 
Children with disabilities: [Check]; 
Other targeted populations: [Empty]. 

Program name by federal agency: State Fiscal Stabilization Fund - 
Education State Grants, Recovery Act; 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Check]; 
Child care services: [Empty]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Empty]; 
Larger age group, including children under 5: [Check]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Empty]; 
Children with disabilities: [Empty]; 
Other targeted populations: [Check]. 

Program name by federal agency: Striving Readers Comprehensive 
Literacy; 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Check]; 
Child care services: [Empty]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Empty]; 
Larger age group, including children under 5: [Check]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Check]; 
Children with disabilities: [Empty]; 
Other targeted populations: [Empty]. 

Department of Health and Human Services: 

Program name by federal agency: Child Care and Development Block 
Grant[A]; 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Empty]; 
Child care services: [Check]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Empty]; 
Larger age group, including children under 5: [Check]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Check]; 
Children with disabilities: [Empty]; 
Other targeted populations: [Empty]. 

Program name by federal agency: Child Care Mandatory and Matching 
Funds of the Child Care and Development Fund[A]; 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Empty]; 
Child care services: [Check]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Empty]; 
Larger age group, including children under 5: [Check]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Check]; 
Children with disabilities: [Empty]; 
Other targeted populations: [Empty]. 

Program name by federal agency: Head Start; 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Check]; 
Child care services: [Empty]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Check]; 
Larger age group, including children under 5: [Empty]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Check]; 
Children with disabilities: [Check]; 
Other targeted populations: [Empty]. 

Department of the Interior: 

Program name by federal agency: Indian Child and Family Education 
(FACE); 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Check]; 
Child care services: [Empty]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Check]; 
Larger age group, including children under 5: [Empty]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Empty]; 
Children with disabilities: [Empty]; 
Other targeted populations: [Check]. 

General Services Administration: 

Program name by federal agency: The General Services Administration's 
Child Care Program; 
Explicit program purpose: 
Early learning services: [Empty]; 
Child care services: [Check]; 
Specific child population targets: 
Age group: 
Children under 5 primarily: [Check]; 
Larger age group, including children under 5: [Empty]; 
Other population targets: 
Low-income children: [Empty]; 
Children with disabilities: [Empty]; 
Other targeted populations: [Check]. 

Source: GAO analysis of Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance and 
federal agency program information. 

Note: All programs included in this table are those for which early 
learning or child care is explicitly described as a program purpose, 
according to our analysis of Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 
and other agency information. It does not include additional programs 
that either support early learning or child care or that allow such 
services. 

[A] In combination, Child Care and Development Block Grant funds and 
Child Care Mandatory and Matching Funds are referred to as the Child 
Care and Development Fund. 

[End of table] 

The remaining 33 programs identified in our 2012 report, and listed in 
appendix I, permit the use of funds for delivering or supporting early 
learning or child care services, but this is not their explicit 
purpose. 

* Some programs are multipurpose block grants for which early learning 
or child care is not a primary purpose but which are nevertheless 
known to provide significant funding for child care. For example, the 
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant accounted 
for $2.6 billion in child care funding in fiscal year 2012. 

* Other programs may allow funds to be used for early learning or 
child care, but these are not among their primary goals. Furthermore, 
such uses do not typically represent a significant portion of 
available program funds. For example, the Department of Justice has 
one program to help victims of violence that can provide child care as 
a short-term, ancillary service; and Title I Grants to Local 
Educational Agencies, an Education grant, spent about 2 percent of 
total obligations on early learning programs in fiscal year 2009. In 
some cases, program officials did not know what portion of program 
funds were used to provide or support early learning or child care 
services. 

* Finally, some programs provide supportive services that can 
facilitate early learning or child care. For example, the Department 
of Agriculture's Child and Adult Care Food Program reimburses local 
providers for meals and snacks served to children in child care 
centers, family, or group day care along with other target groups, 
such as the elderly. 

In addition to these federally funded programs, five federal tax 
provisions, such as the Credit for Child and Dependent Care Expenses, 
supported early learning and child care by forgoing tax revenue to 
subsidize the private purchase of child care services. Some tax 
provisions are for families and some are for employers that provide 
child care at the workplace. These five federal tax expenditures 
accounted for at least $3.1 billion of forgone tax revenue for the 
U.S. Treasury in fiscal year 2012. While it may be possible for some 
families to receive benefits from both tax provisions and federal 
early learning and child care programs in a particular year, many 
families eligible to participate in federal programs may not have tax 
liabilities due to their low incomes and would not benefit from these 
tax provisions.[Footnote 10] 

Multiple Federal Agencies Administer Programs with Similar Goals and 
Potential for Both Duplication and Service Gaps: 

Multiple agencies administer the federal investment in early learning 
and child care through multiple programs that sometimes have similar 
goals and are targeted to similar groups of children. In 2012 we 
concluded that the federal investment in these programs is fragmented. 
The 45 programs identified in our 2012 report are concentrated within 
Education and HHS--the principal administrators of the federal 
government's early learning and child care programs--but are also 
administered by the Departments of Agriculture, the Interior, Justice, 
Labor, Housing and Urban Development, the General Services 
Administration, and the Appalachian Regional Commission. Also, some of 
these programs overlap one another, meaning they have similar goals 
for children under the age of 5 and are targeted to similar groups of 
children. For example, five programs, administered by Education and 
HHS, provide school readiness services to low-income children, and 
programs in both Education and the Interior provide funding for early 
learning services for Indian children. Administering similar programs 
in different agencies can create an environment in which programs may 
not serve children and families as efficiently and effectively as 
possible. The existence of multiple programs can also create added 
administrative costs, such as costs associated with determining 
eligibility and meeting varied reporting requirements. 

Although some programs fund similar types of services for similar 
populations, several factors contribute to the difficulty of 
determining whether these programs are duplicative--that is, whether 
they provide the same services to the same beneficiaries. First, as 
noted above, the programs are differently structured, with some 
administered at the federal level and some administered at the state 
level with local service delivery. Second, the nature of eligibility 
requirements also differs among programs, even for similar subgroups 
of children, such as those from low-income families. For example, Head 
Start serves primarily low-income children under the age of 5 whose 
families generally have incomes at or below the official federal 
poverty guidelines, while CCDF funds services to children under age 13 
whose parents are working or in school and who may earn up to 85 
percent of state median income. Third, for some programs, relevant 
programmatic information is sometimes not readily available.[Footnote 
11] Finally, inadequate or missing data, as well as difficulties 
quantifying the benefits of some tax expenditures, can make it 
difficult to study the effectiveness of these expenditures.[Footnote 
12] 

In addition, in comments responding to our 2012 report, HHS noted that 
program services may be complementary rather than duplicative. For 
example, HHS commented that many Head Start programs only provide part-
day services that may not cover the full time a parent is at work and 
in need of child care; therefore, families could also rely on child 
care subsidies for afterschool care. We noted in our report that the 
complexity of the current service delivery system, combined with data 
limitations, form significant obstacles to assessing the extent to 
which services are complementary or duplicative. 

Overlap in program purposes and targets creates the potential for 
duplication, but it is likely that service gaps also exist, since 
these programs generally are not designed to serve all eligible 
children. For example, as we previously reported in May 2010, about 
one-third or fewer of potentially eligible children received child 
care subsidies from CCDF, TANF, and the Social Services Block Grant 
between fiscal years 2004 and 2007, according to our review of several 
HHS estimates. 

In 2012, we reported that coordinating the administration and 
evaluation of early learning and child care programs can help mitigate 
the effects of program overlap and potentially help bridge service 
gaps. At the time, no federal interagency workgroup coordinated early 
learning and child care efforts across all federal agencies with such 
programs. However, Education and HHS had numerous coordinating 
initiatives and agreements with each other, within their departments, 
and in support of state and local coordination. We noted that 
Education and HHS need to deepen and extend their ongoing coordination 
efforts by including all the federal agencies that provide or support 
early learning or child care services in an inter-departmental 
workgroup that focuses on this population. As of December 2013, 
Education and HHS had taken initial steps toward greater coordination, 
but had not yet included all the federal agencies that administer 
early learning and child care programs in their established inter-
departmental workgroup. It will be important for Education and HHS to 
follow through with their plans to include these other federal 
agencies in order to reduce fragmentation of efforts and unwarranted 
overlap of goals or activities. 

Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Miller, and Members of the Committee, 
this concludes my statement. I would be happy to answer any questions 
you might have. 

GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

If you or your staff have any questions about this testimony, please 
contact me at (202) 512-7215 or brownke@gao.gov. Contact points for 
our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found 
on the last page of this statement. GAO staff who made key 
contributions to this testimony and the report it is based on include 
Janet Mascia and Betty Ward-Zukerman, Assistant Directors; Hedieh 
Fusfield, Kirsten Lauber, Michael Pahr, Deborah Signer, and Craig 
Winslow. 

[End of section[ 

Appendix I: Federal Early Learning and Child Care Programs and Tax 
Expenditures: 

Table 2: Budgetary Information for Programs That Have Early Learning 
or Child Care as an Explicit Program Purpose: 

Department of Education: 

Agency or subagency: Office of the Deputy Secretary; 
Program: State Fiscal Stabilization Fund - Education State Grants, 
Recovery Act; 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: [A]. 

Agency or subagency: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; 
Program: Indian Education - Grants to Local Educational Agencies; 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: $106,000,000. 

Agency or subagency: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; 
Program: Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge; 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: [B]. 

Agency or subagency: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; 
Program: Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy; 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: $160,000,000. 

Agency or subagency: Office of Postsecondary Education; 
Program: Child Care Access Means Parents in School; 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: $16,000,000. 

Agency or subagency: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative 
Services; 
Program: Special Education - Grants for Infants and Families; 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: $364,000,000. 

Agency or subagency: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative 
Services; 
Program: Office of Special Education - Preschool Grants; 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: $373,000,000. 

Department of Health and Human Services: 

Agency or subagency: Administration for Children and Families; 
Program: Child Care and Development Block Grant; 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: $2,268,000,000. 

Agency or subagency: Administration for Children and Families; 
Program: Child Care Mandatory and Matching Funds of the Child Care and 
Development Fund; 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: $2,916,990,581. 

Agency or subagency: Administration for Children and Families; 
Program: Head Start; 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: $7,968,000,000. 

Department of the Interior: 

Agency or subagency: Bureau of Indian Education; 
Program: Indian Child and Family Education (FACE); 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: [C]. 

General Services Administration: 

Agency or subagency: Public Buildings Service; 
Program: The General Services Administration's Child Care Program; 
Fiscal year 2012 obligations: $1,600,000[D]. 

Source: GAO analysis of fiscal year 2012 obligations based on 
agencies' federal budget justifications and other sources. 

[A] State Fiscal Stabilization Fund - Education State Grants, Recovery 
Act was created as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 
of 2009 (Pub. L. No. 111-5, 123 Stat. 115, 279). The program received 
a one-time appropriation of $53.6 billion. 

[B] Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge was created as a state 
incentive grant program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment 
Act of 2009 (Pub. L. No.111-5, § 14006, 123 Stat. 115, 284-4). It is 
jointly administered by the Departments of Education and Health and 
Human Services. The program awarded $133 million in fiscal year 2012. 

[C] We requested but did not receive updated figures from the 
Department of the Interior. We previously reported a fiscal year 2010 
obligation of $15,370,870 for the Indian Child and Family Education 
program. 

[D] This figure is an estimate from agency officials. 

[End of table] 

Table 3: Tax Expenditures and Estimated Revenue Loss: 

Tax expenditure: Exclusion of Benefits Provided Under Cafeteria Plans; 
26 U.S.C. § 125(a); 
Total estimated revenue loss fiscal year 2012: [A]. 

Tax expenditure: Exclusion of Income Earned By Voluntary Employees' 
Beneficiary Associations; 
26 U.S.C. § 419; 
Total estimated revenue loss fiscal year 2012: [B]. 

Tax expenditure: Credit For Child and Dependent Care Expenses; 
26 U.S.C. § 21; 
Tax expenditure: Exclusion of Employer-Provided Child and Dependent 
Care; 
26 U.S.C. § 129; 
Total estimated revenue loss fiscal year 2012: $3,100,000,000. 

Tax expenditure: Credit For Employer-Provided Dependent Care; 
26 U.S.C. § 45F; 
Total estimated revenue loss fiscal year 2012: Less than $50,000,000. 

Source: Congressional Research Service, Tax Expenditures: Compendium 
of Background Material on Individual Provisions (Washington, D.C.: 
December 2012). 

[A] The total estimated revenue loss for the "cafeteria plans" was 
$36.0 billion in fiscal year 2012. This figure does not exclusively 
represent revenue lost for child care but also includes accident and 
health insurance, and other benefits. 

[B] The total estimated revenue loss for the Exclusion of Income 
Earned By Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Associations tax 
expenditure was $3.3 billion in fiscal year 2012. This figure does not 
exclusively represent child care expenditures but also includes a 
range of benefits including life insurance, disability, and health 
insurance. 

[End of table] 

Table 4: Programs That Support Early Learning and Child Care or Allow 
Use of Funds for That Purpose: 

Agency or subagency: Appalachian Regional Commission; 
Program: Appalachian Area Development. 

Agency or subagency: Department of Agriculture; Food and Nutrition 
Service; 

Program: Child and Adult Care Food Program.
Program: National School Lunch Program.
Program: School Breakfast Program.
Program: Special Milk Program for Children. 

Agency or subagency: Department of Education; Office of Innovation and 
Improvement; 
Program: Full-Service Community Schools.
Program: Promise Neighborhoods. 

Agency or subagency: Department of Education; Office of Elementary and 
Secondary Education; 
Program: Alaska Native Educational Programs.
Program: Education for Homeless Children and Youth.
Program: English Language Acquisition Grants.
Program: Indian Education - Special Programs for Indian Children.
Program: Migrant Education - State Grant Program.
Program: Native Hawaiian Education.
Program: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies. 

Agency or subagency: Department of Education; Office of Special 
Education and Rehabilitative Services; 
Program: Special Education - State Personnel Development.
Program: Special Education - Grants to States.
Program: Special Education - Technology and Media Services for 
Individuals with Disabilities. 

Agency or subagency: Department of Health and Human Services; 
Administration for Children and Families; 
Program: Community Services Block Grant.
Program: Social Services Block Grant.
Program: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. 

Agency or subagency: "Departmentof Housing and Urban Development; 
Office of Community Planning and Development; 
Program: Community Development Block Grants/Entitlement Grants.
Program: Community Development Block Grants/Special Purpose 
Grants/Insular Areas.
Program: Community Development Block Grants/State's program and Non-
Entitlement Grants in Hawaii. 

Agency or subagency: Department of Justice; Office of Juvenile Justice 
and Delinquency Prevention; 
Program: Reduction and Prevention of Children's Exposure to Violence 
(Safe Start). 

Agency or subagency: Department of Health and Human Services; Violence 
Against Women Office; 
Program: Children and Youth Exposed to Violence.
Program: Transitional Housing Assistance for Victims of Domestic 
Violence, Dating Violence, Stalking, or Sexual Assault. 

Agency or subagency: Department of Labor; Employment Training 
Administration; 
Program: National Farmworker Jobs Program.
Program: Native American Employment and Training.
Program: Workforce Investment Act Adult Program.
Program: Workforce Investment Act Dislocated Worker Formula Grants. 

Agency or subagency: Department of the Interior; Bureau of Indian 
Affairs; 
Program: Indian Child Welfare Act-Title II Grants.
Program: Indian Education - Assistance to Schools. 

Agency or subagency: General Services Administration; Federal 
Acquisition Service; 
Program: Donation of Federal Surplus Personal Property. 

Source: GAO analysis of fiscal year 2010 obligations based on 
agencies' federal budget justifications and other sources. 

[End of table] 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] Fiscal year 2012 is the latest date for which actual obligations 
have been reported, and funding data for one program was not reported 
in budget justifications but obtained from a federal agency; in 
addition, we requested fiscal year 2012 data for one program but the 
agency was unable to provide it. This figure only includes funding for 
the programs we identified as having an explicit purpose of providing 
early learning or child care for children under age 5. It does not 
include federal programs with other purposes that permit the use of 
funds for early learning and child care as an allowable activity or 
that provide supporting services such as food and nutrition. For 
example, the figure does not include funding for two multipurpose 
block grants--the Social Services Block Grant and Temporary Assistance 
for Needy Families (TANF)--or for Title I Grants to Local Educational 
Agencies. 

[2] GAO, 2012 Annual Report: Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, 
Overlap and Fragmentation, Achieve Savings, and Enhance Revenue, 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-342SP] (Washington, 
D.C.: February 28, 2012). 

[3] While there is no standard definition for what constitutes a 
program, they may include grants, tax expenditures, centers, loans, 
funds, and other types of assistance. 

[4] This testimony focuses on civilian programs and excludes early 
learning and child care programs funded through the Department of 
Defense, which are not listed in the Catalog of Federal Domestic 
Assistance. For a more detailed description, see [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-342SP], p.201, "How GAO Conducted 
Its Work." 

[5] See [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-342SP], p.201, 
"How GAO Conducted Its Work." 

[6] GAO, GAO Update on the Number of Prekindergarten Care and 
Education Programs, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-05-678R] (Washington, D.C.: June 2, 
2005) and Early Education and Care: Overlap Indicates Need to Assess 
Crosscutting Programs, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO/HEHS-00-78] (Washington, D.C.: April 
28, 2000). 

[7] In addition, the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance also made 
some changes in the way programs are categorized that may have 
affected the number of programs that met our criteria. Specifically, 
rather than performing a key word search, as was done in previous 
reports, we took advantage of refinements made in the catalog since 
2005 and used the "Subject Index" terms to identify early learning and 
child care programs. 

[8] We consider a program as having an explicit early learning or 
child care purpose when the program objectives in the Catalog of 
Federal Domestic Assistance or other agency documents refer to early 
learning or child care. 

[9] In addition, 2 of the 12 programs were created as part of the 
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub. L. No. 111-5, 123 
Stat. 115). The larger of these programs--the State Fiscal 
Stabilization Fund--received a one-time appropriation of $53.6 billion 
in 2009. The Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge awarded $133 
million in fiscal year 2012 but did not report the amount of its fiscal 
year 2012 obligations. Tit. XIV, 123 Stat. 279. 

[10] These tax provisions primarily benefit families with higher 
incomes than those eligible for CCDF or Head Start. For example, more 
than half of the beneficiaries of the Child and Dependent Care Tax 
Credit earned incomes of at least $50,000 annually in fiscal year 
2009. In contrast, the Child Care and Development Fund generally 
limits eligibility to families at or below 200 percent of the federal 
poverty guidelines (that is, about $38,000 or less for a family of 
three in 2012), and Head Start serves primarily low-income children 
under the age of 5 whose families generally have incomes at or below 
the official poverty poverty guidelines. 

[11] For example, we reported in 2011 that states have used a 
significant portion of their TANF block grant funds to augment their 
child care subsidy programs, but are not required to report on all 
families provided TANF-funded child care. This leaves an incomplete 
picture of the number of children receiving federally funded child 
care subsidies. See GAO, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: 
Update on Families Served and Work Participation, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-880T] (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 8, 
2011). 

[12] As GAO noted in earlier work, tax returns generally do not 
collect information necessary to assess how often a tax expenditure is 
used and by whom unless the IRS needs the information or collection is 
statutorily mandated. See GAO, Government Performance and 
Accountability: Tax Expenditures Represent a Substantial Federal 
Commitment and Need to Be Reexamined, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-05-690] (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 23, 
2005). 

[End of section] 

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