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Archive for the ‘Dept. of Early Education and Care’ Category

Senate Ways and Means Releases FY14 Budget

Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, MA Legislature, MA state budget on May 16, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

State HouseYesterday, the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee released its $33.9 billion budget proposal for fiscal year 2014. This proposal represents a $1.4 billion increase over FY13 spending levels, while $67.5 million less than the FY14 budget passed by the House and $904 million less than the governor’s budget proposal.

The Senate committee’s proposal includes $490 million for the Department of Early Education and Care, roughly $13 million more than the House’s budget. The committee provides $15 million for a new line item dedicated to addressing the waitlist for income-eligible early education and care. The Senate proposal however also makes cuts to Universal Pre-k, Coordinated Family and Community Engagement grants, Reach Out and Read, and Full-Day Kindergarten grants.

Strategies for Children president Carolyn Lyons issued the following statement:

“The Senate Ways and Means budget released today provides a new line item of $15 million to decrease the waitlist for early education and care for children from income eligible families. While this new line item is a step in the right direction — providing an estimated 2,000 young children with subsidies — there are currently more than 30,000 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers seeking state aid for early education programs.

(more…)

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The April EEC Board Meeting

Posted in Assessments, Dept. of Early Education and Care, MA state budget, Pre-kindergarten on April 22, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Massachusetts sealHere is a summary of highlights from the Board of Early Education and Care’s meeting on April 9, 2013:

Board Business

Tom Weber was confirmed as acting commissioner of the Department of Early Education and Care as of March 11, 2013.

In his report, Weber said that most of his work has been in three areas:

-  relationship-building with the department’s staff

- advocacy around the fiscal year 2014 budget and meeting with the Legislature to discuss the scope of the department’s work

- assessing and improving the department’s policy efforts and boosting staff members’ ability to take on leadership roles.

Weber also said that $1.8 million from the Income/Eligible caseload account was used to create openings for 739 children. (Spending more than this in fiscal year 2013 funds would have created a deficit in fiscal year 2014.)

The department has made progress in responding to Secretary Malone’s direction that EEC initiate a top-to-bottom review of its Internal Control Plan as soon as it practically can, seeking advice and guidance from the state Comptroller’s Office.  (more…)

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House Ways and Means Releases FY14 State Budget

Posted in Achievement gap, Dept. of Early Education and Care, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget on April 11, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

State HouseYesterday, The Massachusetts House Ways and Means (HWM) Committee released its recommendations for $33.8 billion in state appropriations for the fiscal year 2014 (FY14) budget. The proposal represents a 3.88% increase in spending over FY13.

Overall funding for the Department of Early Education and Care is at $472 million, down from $488 million in FY13.

In his letter about the proposal, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian Dempsey states,“In the area of early education, the House proposal takes a firm stand on reforming the agencies tasked with fostering safe educational environments for our youngest citizens. We establish a special commission to examine the need for greater, affordable, quality early education and care services and to determine methods for addressing the high cost of such services.”

The HWM budget recommendation does not fund the $131 million in new investments proposed in Governor Deval Patrick’s fiscal year 2014 budget recommendation that he released in January.

 Carolyn Lyons, President and Chief Executive Officer of Strategies for Children, issued the following statement:

 “It is critical that we make new investments in early education to close the achievement gap. The House Ways and Means budget released today decreases funding for early education by $15.8 million. While we acknowledge and appreciate the Committee’s proposal to ensure efficiency and timely placement of children in high-quality education programs, Massachusetts has a stagnant and costly achievement gap which has remained intractable over the last decade. According to the 2012 MCAS results, 40% of Massachusetts third graders are not proficient in reading, a critical predictor of future academic success. We will not close this gap until we invest more in high-quality early education. Research shows that children from low-income families who enroll in high-quality early education and care are 40% less likely to be retained a grade or require special education, 30% more likely to graduate high school and twice as likely to attend a four-year college.  We look forward to working with the Legislature as the budget process continues.”

Click here for more information about the HWM Committee’s recommendations for programs administered by the Department of Early Education and Care and for other line items related to high-quality early education.

State representatives have until Friday, April 12, at 5 p.m. to file amendments to the House Ways and Means budget. The House will begin debate on the budget the week of April 22.

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Early Childhood Summit 2013: Innovation and Opportunity

Posted in Achievement gap, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Early educators, MA governor, Play, Science & math, Strategies for Children on April 9, 2013 | 1 Comment »

summit

Photo: Gus Freedman

“I’m glad there’s passion in the room. We’re gonna need it,” Governor Patrick said to warm applause last week at the Early Childhood Summit 2013: Innovation and Opportunity at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Strategies for Children partnered with the Boston Children’s Museum, the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University to sponsor the summit. Support also comes from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, the Boston Foundation and the TruePoint Center for Higher Ambition Leadership.

This is the second early childhood summit convened in recent years.  It builds on the success of the first summit held in November, 2011, and it is also part of the Boston Children’s Museum’s 100th birthday.

Patrick spoke in the Federal Reserve’s auditorium to a full house of nearly 400 pediatricians, educators, neuroscientists, museum professionals, business leaders, economists, parents and policymakers – all pursuing the same goal: devising and acting on bright, new ideas for the future of early childhood. (more…)

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New Acting Commissioner of Early Education

Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care on April 3, 2013 | 2 Comments »

tom-weber150x210

Photo: Department of Early Education and Care

It’s an exciting time in early education. President Obama called for universal preschool access in his State of the Union address. Governor Patrick is seeking $131 million in new funding for early education in the fiscal year 2014 state budget.

And while Sherri Killins has stepped down from her post as commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, the dynamic work of expanding the Commonwealth’s system of high-quality early education continues as Tom Weber replaces Killins as acting commissioner.

“We have an opportunity to resource the system in a way that gets us to our goal of high-quality, easily accessible programs,” Weber said in a recent interview. (more…)

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MA Governor’s Plan Would Target Child Care Wait List

Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget on March 5, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

Elimination of the child care wait list is a cornerstone of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s proposal to increase investments in high-quality early education. With subsidies for child care frozen for much of the last two years, the wait list for infants, toddlers and preschoolers has swelled to roughly 30,000 children. The result, according to a story in in yesterday’s Boston Globe, is preschool seats left empty and parents unable to find early education and care for their young children.

“Massachusetts early childcare educators say that Patrick’s proposal would help restore balance to a system thrown out of whack by the [child care] voucher freeze,” the Globe reports. “Slots open up as children age out or move out of early child-care programs, but new children cannot enroll because their families cannot access needed subsidies.”

The $131 million early education package that Patrick recommended to the Legislature also includes funding to bolster the salaries and benefits of early educators, a field that suffers from low wages and high turnover. It also includes funding to help programs improve the overall quality of their offerings.

“There is no guarantee the governor will get what he wants in early education or other state programs. Leaders in the Legislature, which must approve Patrick’s budget plan, have suggested some elements might have to be scaled back,” the Globe reports. “But should the Legislature pass the budget, child-care providers, big and small, have wish lists ready. Classrooms will be reopened, retirement benefits restored, salaries increased and training programs replicated.”

Wayne Ysaguirre, president of Associated Early Care and Education, for instance, hopes to offer raises to teachers whose salaries did not increase after they earned their BA degrees. He wants to provide coaches who will help teachers improve curriculum. He wants to restore the 120 seats his programs have closed over the last two years.

“These are critical years in a child’s life, a time when achievement gaps emerge,” the Globe reports, “and the prime moment to intervene.”

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At the February EEC Meeting

Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, Early Learning Challenge, MA Legislature, QRIS on February 21, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

At his first meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care, newly sworn-in Secretary of Education Matthew Malone called Governor Patrick’s recommendations for early education in the fiscal year 2014 budget “a game-changing moment” and asked those in the audience to urge their legislators to support increased investments in early education. Secretary Malone, the former superintendent of schools in Brockton, also encouraged programs to invite him to visit.

Other highlights of the February 12 meeting include:

  • The board voted to submit its annual  legislative report, which includes an update on EEC’s work in FY13, framed around the board’s five-year strategic plan. The report highlights EEC’s ongoing work on the Educator Provider Support system, the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), screening and assessment, community and family engagement, and challenges regarding access.
  • The board voted to remove several requirements in three sets of Massachusetts QRIS standards that were identified as being redundant in an analysis by the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute. See Program Quality Improvements: QRIS.
  • Commissioner Sherri Killins announced the department has opened access to summer programs.
  • The board discussed revisions to the strategic plan, which is framed around seven key areas: standards, assessments and accountability; finance; governance; regulations; workforce and professional development; alignment between early education and care and K-12; and informed families and public. See Revisions to EEC’s Strategic Plan and Preview of Core Area Definitions.
  • The board heard a panel discussion on collaboration among agencies, including EEC, that serve children and families. A series of three leadership retreats in 2013 will focus on strategies for developing a universal informed consent form to facilitate cross-agency data sharing and for developing cross-agency professional development opportunities.  The panel included Commissioner Angelo McClain of the Department of Children and Families, Dr. Lauren A. Smith of the Department of Public Health, Joan Mikula of the Department of Mental Health, and Ita Mulllarkey of the Department of Housing and Community Development. The retreats are funded by the federal Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge grant. See Interagency Partnerships.

The next EEC board meeting will be held March 12, 2013, from 2:30-4 p.m. at 51 Sleeper Street in Boston (Note the meeting time).

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Doctor Makes Case for Investing in Early Education

Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget on February 11, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Photo: Caroline Silber for Strategies for Children

Photo: Caroline Silber for Strategies for Children

In a recent statement,  Dr. Chi-Cheng Huang, vice chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care, eloquently makes the case for Governor Patrick’s proposed new investments in high-quality early education. Dr. Huang is associate chief medical officer at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center and a former pediatrician at the Boston Medical Center. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine and assistant professor of internal medicine at Tufts Medical School.

“I have had the fortune of serving some of our commonwealth’s youngest citizens and their families and helping to impact their long-term development,” Dr. Huang writes. “But at the same time, I am well aware that no one sector can completely influence their outcomes; that it is the combined efforts of parents, families, educators, caregivers, peers, community-based organizations, religious institutions, and other role models that help to ensure that our infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children will grow up to be healthy, well-adjusted, well-educated, successful, and contributing members of society.”

Dr. Huang summarizes the research on the benefits of high-quality early education. He notes the state’s persistent achievement gap. He summarizes the governor’s proposal to invest $350 million over four years to improve the critical third grade reading benchmark, increase school readiness and close the achievement gap. Among other things, it would eliminate the wait list for infants, toddlers and preschoolers – a wait list that now stands at roughly 30,000 children. The proposal would also invest in quality across the state’s mixed delivery system of private and public providers. Governor Patrick calls for $131 million in new investments in early education in his fiscal year 2014 budget recommendation.

The governor’s proposal, Dr. Huang notes, comes at a time when the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) has laid a strong foundation for a statewide system of high-quality early education.

“EEC has accelerated its work by taking expansive steps to bring many initiatives to scale,” (more…)

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MA Governor Takes to Air Waves for Early Education

Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Reading proficiency on February 5, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Photo: Caroline Silber for Strategies for Children

Photo: Caroline Silber for Strategies for Children

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is making the pitch for his fiscal year 2014 budget package, which includes $131 million in new investments in high-quality early education. One stop was Joe Matthieu’s News Watch show on WBZ-AM radio. Listen.

“Early education – quality early education – and the ability to assure that our children are proficient in reading by third grade is well documented as an indicator of future academic success. And I’m not just talking about through high school. I mean in life. Imagine that. So everything else, if you don’t get it by then, everything else is catch-up and remediation,” Governor Patrick told Matthieu.

“I think that people really do get that investing in the early years has a big impact over time. It doesn’t mean that you stop investing after they reach the third grade, but there are things that you do in the very early years that are going to have a long-term impact,” the governor said.

“In government we have been stuck in governing for the short term. If it doesn’t have a short-term payoff in time for the next election season or the next news cycle then we don’t do it, and that’s a problem. We need to be about a generational responsibility. What do we do now that’s going to make a difference for the generation coming and the one after that? And investing in early childhood is something that’s precisely about that generational responsibility. And I think that’s why so many business groups support the idea.”

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At the January EEC Board Meeting

Posted in Dept. of Early Education and Care, Early Learning Challenge, Facilities on January 28, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

The Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care voted to endorse a bond bill that includes $45 million in capital financing for non-profit providers of early education and out-of-school time services to build or renovate facilities. The bill follows the 2011 release of “Building an Infrastructure for Quality,” a report from Children’s Investment Fund, found shortcomings in safety, air quality, indoor space for physical activity and other measures.

Mav Pardee, director of the Children’s Investment Fund, updated the board on the Building Quality Campaign – a partnership comprised of the fund, Citizens Planning and Housing Association (CHAPA), and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. The bond financing for early education and out-of-school-time facilities is included in CHAPA’s $1.2 billion housing and community development bond bill. Representative Jeffrey Sanchez has filed  a separate facilities financing bill with the same language as a placeholder.

The legislation would make financing available to licensed non-profit providers with at least a quarter of their enrollment children from low-income families. Financing would range from 50-80% of total development costs, based on the number of children eligible for subsidies, and would be in the form of permanent deferred loans for a term of 30 years. (See Pardee’s PowerPoint.)

The January 8 meeting was also the last for former Secretary of Education Paul Reville, who has returned to the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Matthew Malone, former superintendent of the Brockton Public Schools, who was sworn in as the state’s new education secretary on January 14. JD Chesloff, chairman of the EEC board, presented Secretary Reville with a certificate of appreciation. Reville thanked the board and the entire early childhood field for what he termed their “inspiring commitment” to the young children of Massachusetts.

Emily Levine, our field and research associate, reports the board also discussed: (more…)

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