we have an opportunity in the reauthorization discussion to express the real national commitment to early learning that school does not begin -- learning does not begin in kindergarten. preschool has to be what we think about. we're hopeful. senator alexander and senator murray are discussing this. senator murray has been a longtime champion of early learning. we hope to see some movement on this issue. ms. martin: you had mentioned that there was not a -- between the county running the school system and the city level. do you feel -- how big of an obstacle is that given that we really do need to make sure that the programs are aligned with what is happening in the school system and they need to be reinforcing each other? mayor berke: as we look in the

city and had the county school system that has a county school board, a city that controls early learning and a number of other initiatives. that segmentation does not give a realistic picture of a child's needs, which should be our first priority. one of the things i did when i got into office was try to realign city government so that it paid more attention to children. because we did not have schools before, we stayed out of the education space. i took all of our recreation centers -- and i love shooting a basketball as much as anybody -- but i renamed every one of them a youth and family development center, renamed our parks and rec departments as "family development," because i wanted people to think about the development of families of young people, not about recreation. then we started making sure that a reading initiative, mostly

computer-based, was available in each one of those centers, and now we have gone from zero in two years to about 3400 kids reading at least 26 minutes every week in those centers. even though we have this segmentation, what we are trying to do is at least the pipeline keeps going, that gets kids where they need to go, because even if we all have diverse responsibilities, at some point we cannot argue about who has control where. we have to all pitch in. ms. martin: jenny, at the state level, you said the department of education is leading efforts around early childhood. how have you tackled the issue that there is a holistic approach and that the early childhood programs are aligned? ms. o'halleran: it is important for us well. you heard the talk about the cabinet.

the secretaries who deal with issues talk about all sorts of topics, workforce development, and one piece of that is childhood development. we have five priorities. that was important us because the biggest initiative are working on our schools with challenging environments. we see the most important answer to the question of how can we help support the schools in our most impoverished areas as early childhood education. we see the convening role, pulling people together at the state level, hoping to set the example for colleagues at the local level like the mayor seems to have done in his community,

to do that as well. ms. martin: i want to give the audience a chance to ask some questions. if you have a question, raise your hand, and billy will bring you a microphone. please identify who you are before you ask the question. >> i am with "national review." my question is directed at mayor berke. there's an evaluation of the preschool program that are discouraging. the effects fade out at the end of the kindergarten year. what effect does that have on your thinking? mayor berke: there is a study when i was in the legislature, something we talked about a lot, that had some amount of fadeout after four or five years. i think there is a couple of things. number one is we still have to

strengthen what happens after they leave early learning so that even if they are getting great effects as they enter kindergarten, we want to make sure you sustain that, and some of that has to do what happens with them between k and 5. the second part is there is an important social element of early learning and of being in head start and places like that, that certainly they are -- there are a lot of effects that we see and are important. third part is that there are a lot of studies all over the country that do not say the same thing as the vanderbilt study does, and we need to recognize that, and in fact most of the studies say something else. as far as i'm concerned, if we can help kids for four years or five years, that is money well spent.

>> hi, i am from -- and i just wanted as ask something you did not mention. what your government is doing about providing early childhood education to special needs children, the hard of hearing, the blind, and other disabilities? thank you. mr. king: one of the things that we focus on the preschool grants was trying to increase in early learning programs. one of the things we are supporting is trying to create opportunities for students with disabilities to be fully integrated. one of the challenges is in some places the only students who are getting publicly funded early learning are students with disabilities, and as a result, they are segregated from the general education population. as we move towards universality, we have the opportunity to create the environments we want

for students with disabilities and our general education students. ms. o'halleran: we are trying to do that in virginia as well, using our grants, but also our existing state programs. we have a great example in arlington, right next door where they do a wonderful job of -- their funding streams so preschool kids, kids with special education funding, are all in the same classroom, and it was exhibited a couple months ago and we hope to do more. mayor berke: our lead partner in the baby university is a nonprofit called signal centers. what they have come to the space doing is education for children with disabilities. now they are trying to get more into helping parents and strengthen families. we are investing heavily with partners who have special ideas and expertise in this area.

>> good morning. i'm from the center for inspired teaching. i heard the governor talking about economic investment. can you talk about the benefits of the whole child in early charter education and other benefits going forward, social emotional? mr. king: those of us who have worked in elementary schools know that you can see achievement gaps on the first day. you can see kids who hold the book upside down because their level of familiarity with letters is so low. you can see student who are not able to play productively in a group because they have not had those kinds of experiences in learning how to collaborate. you can see that impact for students from the very first day of kindergarten, whether or not they have had those high-quality early learning opportunities. we know that students who have

had high-quality early learning opportunities are less likely to have remedial work in the middle- and high-school level. they are more likely to graduate from high school, more likely to be successful in life. there are studies that show just a 9 to 1 return on investment, because they are less likely to rely on social services and are less likely to end up in prison. this points to the long-term success and families' long-term success. one of the greatest sources of anxiety, people who are struggling, is worrying if their kids are in a high-quality early learning quality program. to ensure that parents can go to work and do what they need to do with confidence, it is not just the whole child, but the whole family who benefits from quality

early learning. >> national center for learning disabilities. you spoke about inclusion for students with disabilities. can you speak a little bit about screening for students that might not have a parent -- a learning disability and how can you distinction between the effects of poverty and what is a neurological cause? ms. o'halleran: one of the things we are doing with our federal preschool grant is assessments for the kids in this program. our teachers will be able to go in and take a look and see how these kids are performing on a whole host of issues, social emotional, literacy skills, and what we are hoping to learn from some of the things you just talked about, what are factors of poverty, true learning disabilities, and then how are those students improving over

the year and as they enter kindergarten. ms. martin: other questions for the panel? >> hi, i am coming from the university of oklahoma. thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us on this topic. governor mcauliffe talked a lot about -- and the national conversation is folks around that -- early childhood education being a point for preparing you for the future in an increasingly globalized world and globalized economy. could you guys perhaps elaborate on what intersections between programs like dual language

immersion schools and early childhood education are taking place? mr. king: there is research evidence. one of the best ways to ensure their cognitive development as well as their appreciation for their culture is to have high quality dual language programs that leverage that. one of the things that many states are doing with their challenge dollars or grants is trying to support teachers and how they leverage their native language skills for the acquisition of english. what we know is due to our english language learners, if they become proficient, they often perform at the same level or better than students who have english spoken at home from the beginning. we have got a real opportunity investing early. the other opportunity we have is to connect learning services for

their parents. some of our strongest programs are providing english language acquisition courses for parents. they're providing opportunities for parents to gain job skills to get access to opportunity for some of our recently arrived families. there is a huge opportunity to make progress with a population of students which unfortunately many states are lagging behind. ms. martin: time for one more question. any other questions? maybe i will ask the last question, which is just to ask each of you to speak a little bit to the question that was asked the governor in terms of the politics around the issue. it seems like it is in the area, on the state and local level where you see bipartisanship and business interests supporting it. what you think are the most critical factors to having that bubble up and support increased investments?

i think the governor made a good argument at the macro level, from an economic standpoint. mayor, you made a good point and john is welcome to talk about the economics of the individual family. 65% of parents in virginia are working, so making sure their children are in high quality programs is about families' economics. can you speak to the issue about how we can continue to build politically for investments in this space? mayor berke: there is politics and investments. it is something actually which i think that there is bipartisan consensus about largely because there's public consensus about. most parents, most families want to see high-quality early learning for their kids.

no matter where you go, what neighborhood you are in, people expect that as a fundamental part of education that is going to start early. even for families who do not necessarily know how to get it or how to access the high quality early learning, they still want it, they still know that their child needs an education to compete in the 21st century, and also for them to be fulfilled as a citizen in the 21st century. so to me, i think that that the politics of this are great for early learning advocates because people across chattanooga, across tennessee, and i am sure across the country all understand the importance of what we are doing, and that reverberates with politicians across the spectrum. it also does not hurt that if

you go visit an early learning center and you sit there and watch what is going on and see kids' faces light up, sit up there and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with them your day gets a lot better because you can see what is really happening. in the long run, i think, going back to the argument about the reauthorization, we have a situation in a city like chattanooga, metropolitan of roughly 500,000 people, the city is 172,000, there are a thousand kids every year who are not ready for school at kindergarten. that just seems like a number that we can work with. that seems like a place that we can make an impact. and so i appreciate cap putting the day aside for this, because this is a problem that if we think about it in those kinds of numbers, we can actually make an impact. ms. o'halleran: i would say i am very encouraged by what is happening in virginia.

the governor talked about it as our business community, which is 100% onboard with early childhood education, which helps efforts not only in a bipartisan, but in a nonpartisan way in the commonwealth. we had an experience this year in the session where it looks like we may be moving backwards in our preschool eligibility in virginia. we heard such an outcry from actually, southwest virginia which is not your typical liberal community that advocates for liberal programs. we heard from teachers, parents, community leaders, and republican legislators in those communities who are so worried that we are going to be cutting back on eligibility on public preschool programs that we were able to strike a deal with the republican leadership in the house and senate to move forward using previous eligibility criteria. i'm hopeful moving forward in the next biennial budget, which will be the first and only

biennial budget that governor mcauliffe will be having control over, that we will be able to invest further in early childhood. mr. king: i am optimistic about bipartisan potential in washington. we have great leaders like senator murray and congressman scott, also like congressman hannah in new york, who is one of the leaders in an effort. i am optimistic about that. i think the challenge for us and the thing we got to do well is deliver results. the key thing that will help us maintain and build momentum is we got to make sure the programs are very high quality and that the outcomes are very strong. that is why we begin to think not just in terms of expanding access, but continue to work to improve quality. ms. martin: i am optimistic as well and look forward how did see things progress in virginia and chattanooga. thank you for coming and doing

this for us today. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: vice president joe biden filled in for the president on his weekly address to discuss the importance of higher education and the administration's plan to provide tuition free community college. vice president biden: i'm

filling in for president obama who is traveling abroad. middle-class economics works. our economy has gone from crisis to recovery to resurgence. with the longest streak of consecutive job growth ever recorded in the history of this country, and more than other advanced countries combined. to make sure everybody is part of this, we need to build on what we know whiten's the past to the middle class. -- widens the path to the middle class. we were among the first nations in the world to provide 12 years of free education for our citizens. in the 21st century, other countries have caught up. 12 years is not enough. a minimum of 14 years is necessary for families to happen insured class. by the end of the decade, two

out of three of all jobs will require an education beyond high school. from a certificate to an associates degree to a bachelors to a phd. folks with an associates degree or more than those who graduated from just high school. folks with a four-year degree make 70% more. the cost of higher education is too high. too many folks are priced out of the piece of the middle class dream. that is why we have a plan to remove that barrier and expand pathways to the middle class by bringing the cost of community college down to zero. zero for anybody willing to work for it. and for the institutions to meet basic requirements. students must keep upgrades --

keep up grades. states must hold colleges accountable for results. colleges must maintain high graduation and job placement rates. community college will have to offer courses directly transferable to four-year degrees. if a two-year community college is free, that means the cost of a four-year degree will be cut in half for a lot of working families struggling to send children to college. students from low income families will be able to keep the benefits that flow from other financial aid to cover child care, housing, transportation. costs that would keep them from attending class. some of these jobs require just a training certificate that can

be earned in a few months. for example, you can go to a coding boot camp with no previous experience and become a computer programmer, making up to $70,000 a year. there are other jobs in advanced manufacturing in energy. jobs you can raise a family on. it's a simple fact that community colleges are the most flexible institutions we have. i have traveled all over this country to see how community college is create partnerships with fortune 500 companies to generate jobs, support apprenticeships, and prevent hard-working students from gaining jobs. making community colleges free is good for workers, companies and our economy.

levy 0.07% fee on banks that curb risky behavior. doing that would pay for free community college and provide a leg up for working families through tax credits to cover necessities like childcare. that is what middle-class economics is all about. giving folks a fair chance to get ahead. no guarantees, just a fair chance. it's simple, folks. two years of community college should become as free and universal as high school is today, we are to make this economy researches permanent. i want to thank you all for listening, i hope he have a great weekend, and god bless you all, and may god protect our troops.

representative boustany: every day, republicans listen to the american people to focus on your priorities. it seems the administration in charge in washington does not have your interests at heart. it limits opportunities for hard-working families. nowhere is this more pronounced than in our tax code. as text day approaches americans need a reminder on how difficult it is just to be compliant with the law. no agency more frustration than the irs. -- no agency elicits more frustration than the irs. compliance with the irs alone -- just think, the president's budget calls for raising taxes by more than $2 trillion.

republicans are offering a better approach. first, that needs fixing our tax code. it is a jumble of outdated provisions held together with scotch tape. that doesn't help create jobs and it doesn't serve the interest of the american people. we must address the people's misgivings with the irs. this agency still operates in the shadow of a scandal in which an admitted to targeting organizations based on political elites. the investigation is ongoing but the irs still refuses to admit that some of its employees engaged in intentional wrongdoing. to successfully carry out its mission, the irs must be viewed by the american people as an unbiased arbiter of the lot. he cannot do that without coming clean. next week, the house will act on several initiatives that will require more accountability and

transparency at the irs. this includes enacting a taxpayer bill of rights, complete with common sense steps, like requiring the irs to fire employees that use their position for political purposes. for bidding the irs employees from using personal e-mail accounts to conduct official business. and improving access for groups that feel they have been wronged by the irs. we are also going to act to provide more tax relief for american families. this is in addition to legislation we have already passed to provide permanent tax relief to small businesses, move that would help create 200,000 jobs. fixing our tax code and reforming the irs -- this is all part of republicans focus on making government address your priorities and work with the people who selected to serve. i thank you for listening. announcer: the president of the

american medical association talks about the so-called dock fix expected on the senate for next week, that would change the way medicare pays doctors. he also talked about the affordable care act. newsmakers is on sunday at 10:00 a.m.. announcer: c-span is created by americans cable companies. in pots you as a public service. -- is brought to you as a public service. announcer: we want to introduce you to karl nebbia. what was your role over there and what did you do? karl: i spent 30 years there. i was associate administrator of the office of spectral management. i oversaw the federal government use of the radio spectrum.

we had engineering functions policy functions i.t. people, international efforts. basically oversaw the whole federal government spectral management. peter: how do you manage spectrum? karl: it is changing over time. in the past, there were separate concepts of separating users by frequency. you could separate them by location, you could separate them by time. today, we use different technology to keep the signals were interfering with one another. using more sophisticated capabilities of determining when systems are operating to allow openings for other systems to fit into those gaps. we are doing lots of different things -- much of it is technology-based. there has been significant changes in how we manage the spectrum. how we provide spectrum to

different users, for instance the introduction of auction authority back in the 1980's. it really changed the landscape and how we provide spectrum as a some of them are -- have parents and grandparents and children. every day using different types of radio devices. things have changed. host: coupons the spectrum? guest: the american people own it. it is a resource area in, that is npa on the government side.