America will invest in children and families

Selected highlights regarding education and family issues from the recently updated White House Website – There is little doubt that Change Has Come To America.

EDUCATION

President Obama and Vice President Biden believe that our kids and
our country can’t afford four more years of neglect and indifference.
At this defining moment in our history, America faces few more urgent
challenges than preparing our children to compete in a global economy.
The decisions our leaders make about education in the coming years will
shape our future for generations to come. Obama and Biden are committed
to meeting this challenge with the leadership and judgment that has
been sorely lacking for the last eight years. Their vision for a 21st
century education begins with demanding more reform and accountability,
coupled with the resources needed to carry out that reform; asking
parents to take responsibility for their children’s success; and
recruiting, retaining, and rewarding an army of new teachers to fill
new successful schools that prepare our children for success in college
and the workforce. The Obama-Biden plan will restore the promise of
America’s public education, and ensure that American children again
lead the world in achievement, creativity and success.

Early Childhood Education

• Zero to Five Plan:
  The Obama-Biden comprehensive "Zero to Five" plan will provide critical
  support to young children and their parents. Unlike other early
  childhood education plans, the Obama-Biden plan places key emphasis at
  early care and education for infants, which is essential for children
  to be ready to enter kindergarten. Obama and Biden will create Early
  Learning Challenge Grants to promote state Zero to Five efforts and
  help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.
• Expand Early Head Start and Head Start: Obama and Biden will quadruple Early Head Start, increase Head Start funding, and improve quality for both.
• Provide affordable, High-Quality Child Care: Obama and Biden will also increase access to affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families.

FAMILY

Support Working Families

• Extend Paid Sick Days to All Workers:
  Half of all private sector workers have no paid sick days and the
  problem is worse for employees in low-paying jobs, where less than a
  quarter receive any paid sick days. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will
  require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year.

• Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA):
  The FMLA covers only certain people who work for employers with 50 or
  more employees. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will expand the FMLA to
  cover businesses with 25 or more employees, and to cover more purposes
  including allowing: leave for workers who provide elder care; 24 hours
  of leave each year for parents to participate in their children's
  academic activities at school; leave for workers who care for
  individuals who reside in their home for 6 months or more; and leave
  for employees to address domestic violence and sexual assault.
• Encourage States to Adopt Paid Leave:
  President Barack Obama will initiate a 50 state strategy to encourage
  all of the states to adopt paid-leave systems. Obama and Biden will
  provide a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to
  help states offset the costs for employees and employers.
• Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities:
  Barack Obama and Joe Biden will double funding for the main federal
  support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers
  program, to serve one million more children. They will include measures
  to maximize performance and effectiveness across grantees nationwide.
• Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit:
  The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit provides too little relief to
  families that struggle to afford child care expenses. Barack Obama and
  Joe Biden will reform the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit by making
  it refundable and allowing low-income families to receive up to a 50
  percent credit for their child care expenses.
• Expand Flexible Work Arrangements:
  Barack Obama and Joe Biden will address this concern by creating a
  program to inform businesses about the benefits of flexible work
  schedules for productivity and establishing positive workplaces;
  helping businesses create flexible work opportunities; and increasing
  federal incentives for telecommuting. Obama and Biden will also make
  the federal government a model employer in terms of adopting flexible
  work schedules and permitting employees to petition to request flexible
  arrangements.

Strengthen Families at Home

• Strengthen Fatherhood and Families:
  Barack Obama has re-introduced the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy
  Families Act to remove some of the government penalties on married
  families, crack down on men avoiding child support payments, ensure
  that support payments go to families instead of state bureaucracies,
  fund support services for fathers and their families, and support
  domestic violence prevention efforts. President Obama will sign this
  bill into law and continue to implement innovative measures to
  strengthen families.

• Support Parents with Young Children:
  Barack Obama and Joe Biden will expand programs like the successful
  Nurse-Family Partnership to all low-income, first-time mothers. The
  Nurse-Family Partnership provides home visits by trained registered
  nurses to low-income expectant mothers and their families. Researchers
  at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis concluded that these
  programs produced an average of five dollars in savings for every
  dollar invested and produced more than $28,000 in net savings for every
  high-risk family enrolled in the program. The Obama-Biden plan will
  assist approximately 570,000 first-time mothers each year.