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Published: February 9, 2005 Click here for the original article Education – From Birth through College and Beyond Governor Rell’s Early Childhood Investment Initiative The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. - Eleanor Roosevelt Governor Rell’s budget has recommended a series of bold, dramatic and innovative programs to enhance the education of preschool children. By providing strategically placed funding in critical education programs, Governor Rell’s proposed budget will help Connecticut’s children attain the skills they need to achieve their dreams in the new 21st century global economy. Governor Rell’s education budget begins with a new approach towards the education of its youngest citizens. For every child born in the state, Governor Rell, working through the Connecticut Children’s Trust Fund, is planning to ensure that every set of parents and caregivers have regular, essential information during the first four years of that child’s life. This program, Great Beginnings, will help parents and caregivers recognize the developmental milestones that are the beginnings of a child’s cognitive learning. Governor Rell believes that all children must come to school with the skills they need to achieve. Building upon the Great Beginnings program, Governor Rell’s budget recommends a revamping of the School Readiness program. With a series of funding increases, Governor Rell will increase accountability, expand the program to the whole state, and ensure the financial stability of existing state funded School Readiness programs. In the budget, Governor Rell has created an Early Childhood Investment Advisory Cabinet, made up of commissioners from the child related agencies of Education (SDE), Social Services (DSS), Public Health, Children and Families, and Mental Retardation. The Cabinet will ensure the coordination of the services offered by the various departments for preschool youngsters, recommend management enhancements and propose service improvements to the School Readiness system. The Governor’s budget also creates the Early Childhood Research and Policy Council which will bring together members of Connecticut’s education, business, and philanthropic communities to advise the Early Childhood Advisory Cabinet. The Cabinet will set the standards for School Readiness by requiring all state-funded School Readiness programs to adopt the high quality Connecticut Preschool Curriculum. As part of their mission, the Cabinet will also establish a rating system for the School Readiness programs that will help parents and caregivers pick the best preschool for their children. Finally, the Cabinet, in concert with the Council, will advise SDE in the development of an assessment tool to measure the success of our preschool programs. Most exciting for parents in non-School Readiness communities, Governor Rell’s budget is recommending $5.5 million in each year for a new program that reaches out to parents who have not been able to access the program unless they lived in one of the state’s poorest and academically challenged communities. As the results of the No Child Left Behind assessments have demonstrated, achievement gaps exist in communities that are not traditionally believed to have such gaps. This program, in partnership with $1 million in debt service financing (and $250,000 for technical assistance) will eventually lead to the creation of up to 1,000 more slots in communities that have needy, underserved preschool populations. Governor Rell is also concerned about the approximately 7,000 children who are projected to be in the existing School Readiness program during the biennium. Providers in these programs have struggled financially, often with unmet capital needs. Staffing has been problematic, with high turnover. To address these problems, Governor Rell’s budget recommends $2 million in FY 2005-06 and $4 million in FY 2006- 07 to increase slot funding from $7,500 to $7,750 and finally to $8,025. This increased revenue will help stabilize finances for School Readiness centers. Additionally, the budget will provide $2 million in capital funding to address unmet needs for enhancement and expansion of existing preschool facilities. Finally, to reduce staff turnover in the centers, and increase education credentials for workers in the centers, $1 million for about 330 scholarships is provided. As a final measure of how well the state’s preschool programs are working, Governor Rell’s budget includes $400,000 to finance the creation of a developmentally appropriate kindergarten assessment program. When finally implemented, this test will provide decision-makers, parents and education professionals with empirical data with which to answer the question, “How well are we doing?” Connecticut needs its preschool population to succeed, to come to kindergarten ready to achieve.  |
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