Given the importance of early care and education (ECE) programs for children's development and parents’ labor force participation, it is critical to ensure communities — particularly those home to historically marginalized populations — have predictable and equitable access to programming and services. Yet, there are few useful data resources and thus relatively little research examining variation in local access to ECE programs. In this article, we examine county-level disparities in participation in and availability of ECE centers by child poverty rate, racial and ethnic composition, and urban-rural geography using a unique national dataset of county-level ECE program enrollment and expenditures from 2000 to 2019. Measures of ECE access in these data reflect a mix of publicly provided and funded programs, as well as privately-run programs that may be operated by nonprofit or for-profit entities. Findings suggest that public ECE per capita enrollment is higher in rural than urban counties, whereas private ECE program enrollment appears more highly concentrated in urban counties. Counties with higher child poverty rates also have lower enrollment rates at private ECE centers compared to counties with lower child poverty rates. We find mixed results when comparing public (e.g., public preschool, Head Start) and private ECE enrollment across counties by racial and ethnic composition. Finally, we examine year-over-year volatility in ECE enrollment and expenditures and find that public ECE programs are more stable compared to private ECE programming, which may promote equity in ECE stability.

中文翻译：

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早期护理和教育中心的空间不平等


鉴于早期护理和教育 （ECE） 计划对儿童发展和父母劳动力参与的重要性，确保社区（尤其是历史上被边缘化人口的社区）能够预测和公平地获得计划和服务至关重要。然而，有用的数据资源很少，因此调查当地 ECE 计划访问差异的研究相对较少。在本文中，我们使用 2000 年至 2019 年县级 ECE 计划入学和支出的独特国家数据集，按儿童贫困率、种族和民族构成以及城乡地理来研究县级 ECE 中心的参与和可用性差异。这些数据中对 ECE 访问的衡量标准反映了公共提供和资助的计划，以及可能由非营利或营利性实体运营的私人计划。研究结果表明，农村县的公立 ECE 人均入学率高于城市县，而私立 ECE 计划的入学率似乎更高度集中在城市县。与儿童贫困率较低的县相比，儿童贫困率较高的县在私立 ECE 中心的入学率也较低。在按种族和民族构成比较各县的公立（例如，公立学前班、Head Start）和私立 ECE 入学率时，我们发现结果喜忧参半。最后，我们研究了 ECE 入学率和支出的年同比波动性，发现与私立 ECE 计划相比，公立 ECE 计划更稳定，这可能会促进 ECE 稳定性的公平性。