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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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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Governor Patrick

There’s good news for young children and families in the fiscal year 2014 budget recommendation that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick released today. It provides details of the substantial increased investments in high-quality early education that he announced last week. He frames his proposals around closing the achievement gap, improving third grade reading proficiency, and enhancing school readiness.

“Third grade literacy is widely regarded as one of the most significant milestones in a child’s academic career, and it is an important predictor of future academic success,” the governor’s budget overview states. “The FY 2014 budget targets increased funding to both early childhood education and programs for English language learners in order to work toward the administration’s goal of universal third grade student proficiency in reading.

“Providing access to high-quality early education programs,” it continues, “is a vital component of addressing the achievement gap.”

Here is a summary of Governor Patrick’s proposals for new investments in early education:

• $56.75 million to “significantly increase access to high-quality early education programs and [to begin a phased plan] to provide universal access by eliminating the wait list for qualified children from birth to age 5 by FY 2017.” It includes $31.6 million for infants and toddlers and $25.15 million for preschool children.
• $30.59 million for Early Education Provider Quality Investments for, budget language states, “a reserve to improve the quality of the commonwealth’s child care system by enabling child care providers to better attract and retain quality staff,” (more…)

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