WASHINGTON — Congress is moving closer to a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that would include pre-K schools.

A key Capitol Hill committee is working toward a bipartisan solution that would start building standards before students get to kindergarten, according to David Johns, the senior education adviser for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions.

“We were still fighting for people to understand the importance of, as I say, teaching the babies,” Johns said. “Now that’s slightly different. We don’t necessarily have to make the case. I think it’s more understood.”

Johns was part of the Pre-K Coalition’s panel in Washington on Tuesday. The coalition, which is made up of seven education groups, outlined recommendations for policy changes that would benefit pre-K schooling nationwide,  focusing on making sure these children are given teachers who can help them develop.

Prior to kindergarten, kids are in a crucial development phase and “it’s even more critical to have the best professional possible working with those young children,” said Brenda Welburn, executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education.

There is no national standard that needs to be met for a teacher at the pre-K level.

“Teachers need to have the education and specialization in early childhood to know what a quality teacher in a classroom looks like,” said Amy Mandel, a preschool teacher at Edmund Hmieleski Early Childhood Center in Perth Amboy, N.J.

But even with all the talk about policy, it was hard for the panel to ignore the root of the problem – a lack of funding.

Several state have authorized pre-school and full day kindergarten but the money to get those programs started has been absent.

“Until we begin to say the investment has to go along with the authorization, I don’t think we will move nearly as far as we should or as fast as we should,” Welburn said.

Schools with pre-K programs have needed to get creative to find funding, often using money intended for other areas or applying for grants. This causes an annual question of whether the program can survive.

“I’m in big trouble if I can’t find a grant to pay for parts of this program,” said Jon Millerhagen, principal of Washburn Elementary School in Bloomington, Minn.

Millerhagen’s program was identified as a model of what can happen when schools and funds are committed to pre-K education. His second grade team last year had four classrooms average more than 150 percent expected growth for students in reading and math.

“We attribute that to our preschool and our kindergarten programs,” he said.

While there was hope for a quick resolution to the issues that faces pre-K schools, the panel was realistic about how close it was to its goal.

“While states and communities have been making significant strides over the last decade, we’re still not where we need to be,” said Chrisanne Gayl, director of the Pre-K Coalition.

And realistic about what happens if it doesn’t reach it at all.

“I’m just hoping some people here on the Hill will move forward and get some stuff done so I can keep my program,” Millerhagen said.