Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/things-seen-and-unseen/5021436/
Despite the headline, this issue’s Policy Matters column isn’t about conspiracy and includes no spiritual references. It’s just that recently, I’ve been struck by how we can get caught up in one thing and miss something of equal or greater importance right smack in front of us; how things that don’t seem to be ‘early childhood’ can have an enormous effect on our programs, while we don’t see or appreciate less dramatic changes in early childhood policies �" even when they’re right in front of us.Through September, folks in Washington, DC have been hyper-focused on a campaign to build support for the President’s “Preschool for All” initiative. So was Policy Matters, which devoted about half our space to it this year.
That laser-like focus has limited attention for other matters, particularly the showdown over the budget and the debt ceiling, and also the significant developments on the state level that have occurred.
Déjà vu All Over Again
By the time you read this, both the October 1 start of the federal fiscal year and the deadline for the debt ceiling to be increased will have passed. This time, the seemingly annual hang-up around the federal budget revolved around an effort to defund the Affordable ...