U.S. Representative George Miller (D-CA) recently introduced the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 (H.R.3221) into the House of Representatives. This bill restructures student loan procedures and uses the savings to invest in other areas of education. This legislation includes substantial investments in early childhood education through an Early Learning Challenge Fund. In support of President Obama’s plan to invest $10 billion over 10 years to improve early education, the fund will offer competitive grants to states to enhance the quality of early learning for children ages birth to five. You can read more about the fund and its purposes here.

If you support this investment in early education, you can contact your representative TODAY to tell him or her that you support the Early Learning Challenge Fund. You can find out how to contact your US House Representative by clicking here and entering your mailing address. A sample message to your representative is: “My name is ___ and I am one of your constituents. I fully support the Early Learning Challenge Fund provision within H.R.3221. This fund is a critical investment that will improve the quality of early education. Please support H.R.3221.”

Tomorrow, July 21st, at 11:00 am EST, the US House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor will be discussing H.R.3221 in a mark-up session. You can view this session live by visiting here and clicking on the “Live webcast” link. The session will be recorded and posted to the committee’s website later this week. If passed by the committee, the bill will hopefully move to the floor next week to be voted on by the full House of Representatives. At this time, the bill has not been brought up in the Senate. A Senate companion bill is expected to be created in the fall.