Legislative Agenda

2010 POLICY AGENDA

Create a Comprehensive Early Childhood System

The Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance urges the creation of a comprehensive early childhood system in Connecticut that includes accessible high quality early care and education, health care support services, and enhances our communities in their commitment to children’s success. Children with a healthy start, nurturing and stimulating environments, and access to high quality early learning opportunities will become the productive, successful adults of our future workforce.

Today, many children lack even the most basic necessities to grow up healthy and ready to succeed in school. Gaps in health care, including dental, social, emotional and behavioral health, affect an alarming number of Connecticut's children. In delivering early childhood education programs, separate funding streams, reporting
requirements and oversight agencies produce inequities for children and families. Currently, Connecticut has a shortage of affordable infant/toddler care for low-income working parents, and about 25% of Connecticut's children do not attend preschool, leaving most of them behind their peers before they even walk through the elementary school doors.

It is time for Connecticut to address the needs of our children - our future - in a more systematic way. The Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance supports a quality based, comprehensive system of early childhood services for children birth to age eight. Such a system would promote and reward high quality early care and education services in a variety of settings and provide sufficient resources to sustain them; it would also ensure that all children have access to preventive health care and the supports necessary to thrive.

Recommended steps for 2010:

• Uniform reporting form – In 2009, the legislature passed Special Act 09-03 which requires (by January 1, 2010) a single form to be developed by DSS, DPH and DOE for early childhood programs to receive state funding. The Alliance seeks completion of this form.
• Simplifying procedures for early childhood education facilities -Special Act 09-10 requires DSS, DPH and DOE to study (by January 1, 2010) the requirements and procedures faced by early care and education providers with the end goal of simplifying them. The Alliance seeks completion of this study.
•  Longitudinal study – The Alliance urges Connecticut to begin a state-wide, longitudinal evaluation of Connecticut's school readiness program (as approved by the legislature in 2006) that examines the educational progress of children pre-kindergarten through grade four. This study will be an important tool for designing effective programs, and it will position Connecticut to receive new federal monies for early childhood. Responsibility for this study has been assigned by DOE to the newly created Office of Early Childhood Planning, Outreach and Coordination.

Maximize Federal Investments in Early Care and Education

The Alliance seeks to maximize federal investments in early care and education, including Race to the Top, Early Learning Challenge Fund Grants, Child Care Development Block Grants (CCDBG), Head Start funds, ARRA funds, and others.

Recommended steps for 2010:

• State Advisory Council – The Alliance urges Connecticut to apply for over $500,000 in federal funds available for the Early Childhood Cabinet (State Advisory Council). Connecticut is eligible for these funds, but has not yet applied for them. The Cabinet could use these funds to complete work that is required to receive further federal monies to improve Connecticut's early learning programs.
•  Race to the Top – The Alliance urges Connecticut to include early learning in current and future Race to the Top grant applications. Early learning should be a component of any effort to improve student achievement.
  Early Learning Challenge Fund – The Alliance urges Connecticut to apply for Early Learning Challenge Fund Grants and to take steps to make us competitive for these grants, including improvement in the following areas: data collection, transparency, quality enhancement, inter-agency coordination and workforce development.
•  ARRA Child Development Block Grants – Ensure that the decision on how to spend this money is done in a transparent, equitable way that takes account of input from interested parties, and that the money is spent in a way to maximize Connecticut's chances for the Early Learning Challenge Fund.

Preserve Existing Programs

The Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance urges full funding of core early care and education programs – and critical child health and safety supports. This includes but is not limited to:

State Funded Child Development Centers, State Funded Head Start, School Readiness, Family Resource Centers, Child support services, Child health and safety programs

Continuing concern remains regarding preservation of programs aimed at improving early childhood outcomes such as: Early Childhood Community Planning Funds, Early Literacy Funds, Nurturing Families, Parent Trust Fund, and programs that promote a quality workforce.

Recommended steps for 2010:

• Ensure that budget allocations for existing programs remain intact – State Funded Centers, School Readiness, Head Start, Family Resource Centers and Care4Kids.

• Care4Kids – Keep Care4Kids child care subsidy program open to serve needs of low-income working parents, and ensure DSS spends full $104 million allocated by the legislature.

• Facilities – Preserve the Child Care Facilities Loan Fund (CCFLF), a tax-exempt bond program crucial to maintaining and upgrading facilities around the state.