Some 300 early educators and their supporters gathered at the Massachusetts State House yesterday for the annual Advocacy Day to urge their legislators to support Governor Patrick’s  proposed $131 million in new investments for early education in fiscal year 2014. His recommendation comes after funding for early education has declined by more than $80 million since FY09.

“This year is different,” Leo Delaney, CEO of Ellis Memorial in Boston’s South End, told the group. He is president of the Massachusetts Association of Early Education and Care (MADCA), a trade association of providers. “This is the first year we’ve gone to the Legislature, and we have a home run starting off. The governor’s budget has made it clear it’s time to invest in early education,” Delaney said. “We need champions in the Legislature. We need leaders to stand up and say, yes, it’s time to reinvest.’

Sateya Pritchard, a preschool teacher at College Bound Dorchester, made the case for increased investments in the early childhood workforce.

“I work full-time. I’m a parent. I’m also going to school working on my BA,” she said. “Our teachers have been going to school, learning best practices. In all of this, though, we have a decrease in funding available… It’s not OK.”

After the brief program, early educators carried this message to their legislators.

“There is a need to invest in the early education workforce,” Bill Eddy, executive director of MADCA, told the audience. “There is a need to invest in quality. There is a need to invest in the children of the commonwealth.”