9/25/13

President Obama’s plan to expand early childhood education and fund it with an increase in federal tobacco taxes would ensure that two million low- and moderate-income children have access to high-quality preschool and prevent 1.7 million kids from becoming smokers, according to a report released today by nine organizations that focus on early learning and/or public health.

In his fiscal year 2014 budget, President Obama proposed expanding federal funding for early education programs, paid for with a 94-cent per pack increase in the federal cigarette tax and a proportional increase in the federal tax on other tobacco products. “Taken together, these two measures would help ensure a future of smart, healthy kids nationwide and in every state,” the report concludes.

The report details the educational and health benefits of the President’s proposal nationwide and in each state. Nationwide, this proposal would:

• Provide nearly 335,000 additional children from low- and moderate-income families with access to high-quality preschool programs in the first year alone. Two million children in low- and moderate-income families would have access to high-quality preschool in the 10th year.
• Prevent 1.7 million kids from becoming addicted smokers and save nearly one million Americans from premature, smoking-caused death.

Source: the National Women’s Law Center, Save the Children, MomsRising, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and American Academy of Pediatrics.

Available at: http://www.smarthealthykids.org/