President Obama released his fiscal year 2013 budget proposal last week that includes increased funding for early education and child health. While much of the new money requested would go to higher education, early learning receives some attention.

The President proposes an $85 million increase in funding for Head Start and a $300 million increase for child care quality improvement. Another Race to the Top competition will be on the way – the Department of Education budget requested $850 million for a contest for states and districts, and in a press release the department said “a significant portion of the funds would be dedicated for early learning.”

While no direct funding is proposed for the Striving Readers program, it has not been eliminated – the Department of Education has proposed consolidating several education programs, and funding for Striving Readers may be folded into other areas. Early Ed Watch provides a breakdown of this year’s proposals compared to appropriations in past years. Elsewhere in the budget, Obama recommends spending $470 million on child nutrition and $190 million in housing initiative for children, part of 1.8 percent overall increase in spending on children according to an analysis by First Focus.