The session was a tough one. First, we were asked for some language to lift the quality requirements and the enrollment cap. Some of the legislators that were part of the original drafting of Act 62 understood how hard the lottery has been on providers, and some didn't. No one ever intended for the passage of the pre-k bill to actually hurt high quality providers, but that is what the enrollment cap is doing in places like Burlington.

We had a great champion in Rep. Joey Donovan. She really gets it. She asked us to develop language on these two issues and we did. It passed her committee, passed the floor of the House by a 2 to 1 margin, but with just 1 day remaining in the session, and in order to avoid a conference committee on the bill the pre-k amendments were attached to, an agreement was made to leave the pre-k amendments and shift the other elements of the bill to a technical adjustment bill.

So, S. 136 with the pre-k amendments now sits on the bulletin board in the Senate Ed Committee, teed up for January 2010. No one planned for the cap elimination to be top priority for advocacy this year, but when a legislative leader asks you for something, you need to respond, especially when they want to fix something that is causing a lot of harm to high quality early ed providers and the families they serve. We did what we needed to do, and hopefully the fix will move through the Senate first thing in January. Thank goodness for bienniums - you have 2 years to work on the same pieces of legislation.

legislative update

The photo above show Steve Barnett of the National Institute on Early Education Research (NIEER) speaking to a panel of the Vermont House and Senate Education Committee members on why quality and universal accessibility is important in pre-k. he came and spent time with legislators this session on the invitation of Rep. Peltz.



Yesterday, the House Ed Committee voted to remove the 2 year old enrollment caps on pre-k and to add to the quality language. The pre-k work was an amendment to the S.136 High School Completion bill, which will go to a floor vote early next week. If you live in Vermont, please urge your representative to vote for it. Elimination of the enrollment caps will help town who started pre-k programs and wish to serve all children and will be a welcome relief in areas struggling with methods to enroll half the children fairly.



Up until 2007, a licensed teacher was required in each pre-k classroom in order to receive state funding. In 2007 that changed to a licensed teacher required for public school classrooms, and a licensed teacher needing to be employed by centers. Home providers could be supervised by a licensed teacher. Now, there will be language that asks the private center licensed teacher to supervise each classroom - or learning component - and therefore require more direct involvement of the teacher with the children.

Using the ARRA funds to increase the quality of early care and education seems to be a smart thing in Vermont -- here's a story about what they're doing in California - http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_11913525

Ample Opportunity in ARRA for Vermont to Improve Early Childhood Quality

For many years Vermont has led the country in investments in public education for children in grades k-12. Now, with the help of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the federal economic stimulus package, Vermont can improve the system of educational offerings for children and young adults at either end of the k-12 age spectrum.

Vermont recently backed away from having high quality standards for early education placed in the 2007 Pre-K law due to the many barriers to teacher licensure for teachers in private centers. There is the high cost of tuition for BA degrees statewide, a lack of geographic access, and low compensation.

With the ARRA funding, early education teachers could get their degrees through the state colleges and university systems without paying for college credits themselves. State colleges could use funding to make sure programs are offered in every region of the state.

Clearly, high quality early care and education is a critical part of the economic infrastructure in the state. It makes sense that $5 billion was placed in ARRA to support these important programs. This total funding will be distributed to the states. Here is the breakdown of the federal funding to support young children:

• $1 billion for Head Start - to flow directly to local agencies on a competitive grant basis. Vermont is expected to receive $1.2 million over two years. It is not clear at this time whether new grantees will be invited to compete or if expansion will only be made available to existing grantees. This area also includes funding for early childhood state councils, which can be newly formed or already existing. There will be a required 70% match from the states, but there isn't a clear definition of what the match will include. Vermont might consider restoring the local early childhood council directors, whose slots were eliminated in early budget cuts this year, in order to help coordinate the other ARRA funded opportunities locally.
  
• $1.1 billion for Early Head Start – will flow to local agencies on a competitive grant basis, but not yet clear how much money will flow to Vermont.
• $2 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) – This is the funding to support the child care subsidy. This goes to low income families to allow parents to join the labor force. Of this, $255 million has been carved out for quality improvements and can be used to fund scholarships for early education teachers to obtain higher levels of education and training. Vermont will receive $2.8 million, which will be used to bring the subsidy up to poverty levels from 2002.
  
• $900 million for IDEA Part C and Section 619 – This is the special education programs for infant, toddlers and preschoolers. This funding is used to support identification of children with special developmental needs, and can help pay for direct services such as occupational therapy and physical therapy in a natural setting, including child care centers and schools . The breakdown for the total federal funding allows $500 million for infants and toddlers, and $400 million for preschoolers. Vermont is expected to receive $30 million in funding.
  

Other education funding from ARRA that could also support early care and education:

• Title I of NCLB– Title I provides federal funding for high needs school districts. ARRA allows $13 billion in additional funding but the specific use is very flexible. The funding will flow to local school districts, where superintendents can decide to use funding for teacher training for early childhood providers both inside schools and in community-based settings, although guidance from state agencies and the legislature will be helpful in decision making. While there is no "set-aside" for early education in the legislation, there is language in the conference report recommending that some of the funds be used for early childhood programs and services. Vermont is expect to receive $33.75 million over two years.
  
• Title II of HEA-Like Title I, Title II funding is for high-needs public school districts. Title II will include $100 million for local teacher quality partnerships. Higher education institutions can choose to partner with local school districts to improve teacher quality for pre-k-12. Funding will be made through application for competitive grants from the U.S. Department of Education.
  
• Department of Education State Fiscal Stabilization Funds - Vermont is slated to receive $126.4 million over 2 years to be used to fill in for education budget cuts. Since we have a unique way of funding schools and haven't seen funding cuts because local budgets are decided by towns, Vermont will have the opportunity to use this funding through the Title I allocation to school districts to aid schools. This funding will certainly be important in making sure that barriers to quality early care and education are eliminated for pre-k programs, and amounts to $53.6 billion.
  
• Innovation fund grants – State Departments of Education and local non-profits will create partnerships to come up with innovative programs to close achievement gaps. There is not a lot of clarity yet on how these partnerships will be funded or what will be required.
  

For the individual early education teachers who are seeking more educational opportunities, there will also be increased Pell grants for low income students and a higher education tax credit.

With the ARRA funds, Vermont is facing a great opportunity to significantly improve the quality of early care and education programs statewide. Early childhood advocates should work with legislators, local schools districts, state agency leaders, and Head Start agencies to ensure that the barriers to quality are eliminated once and for all.

stimulus spending and Vermont

A group of early childhood advocates recently met to talk about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 --- the stimulus package. It appears that multiple millions in funding will come to Vermont. At least $2.83 million from the CCDBG stream for the child care subsidy, $1.2 million for Head Start, and much more for Title I and IDEA part B and section 619. Some will flow to the school districts or Head Start agencies directly from the federal government. Some will be available through competitive grants.

What we all agreed upon however is a shared set of our priorities. We believe that the subsidy, state early childhood council, and teacher education and training were the highest priorities for funding. This is where we need to spend the funding.

Sen. Leahy And Gov. Douglas Set March 6th Conference To Ramp Up
Vermont’s Readiness To Invest Stimulus Bill’s Resources In Strengthening State’s Economy

Vermonters interested in additional information and in seeing a program agenda should visit http://leahy.senate.gov or call 1-800-642-3193. Participants are asked to register in advance.

WHAT: Conference and Workshops on Vermont’s Stake in The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act
WHEN: Friday, March 6th, registration at 12:30, sessions start at 1 p.m and are repeated so that you can attend two workshops
WHERE: 265 South Willard Street, IDX Student Life Center, Champlain College, Burlington
WHO: Vermont residents, small business owners, advocates, municipal officials
Register ONLINE: http://leahy.senate.gov

Workshops on how the stimulus will help Vermonters - information on education and health care - and these subjects:
Small Business Aid, Help for Families, Infrastructure Improvements, and First Responders

(WEDNESDAY, Feb. 25) – U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Vermont Gov. James Douglas (R) will host a free conference to help Vermont families, businesses and towns learn how the newly enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will help strengthen Vermont’s economy.

The conference and workshops will convene on Friday, March 6th, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Champlain College in Burlington. The Vermont Procurement and Technical Assistance Center and the Vermont Small Business Development Center have cosponsored the conference, enabling Leahy and Douglas to offer the conference at no cost to Vermonters. Leahy and Douglas will kick off the conference with introductory remarks.

Leahy, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee which helped craft the legislation, initiated the conference planning and has worked with Governor Douglas, Vermont Legislative leaders and federal agencies in organizing the sessions. Leahy earlier announced that Vermont will receive more than $700 million in direct federal investments under the new law in infrastructure improvements and social services. Leahy also anticipates that hundreds of small businesses and nearly every Vermont family will receive further direct benefits ranging from tax incentives to medical and unemployment coverage. Much of the bill’s help will be allocated by funding formulas; other benefits will depend on applications by businesses and governments for competitive grants, which will push Vermont’s total still higher.

Leahy said, “Vermonters want to be engaged in finding ways to strengthen our communities and our economy. I have heard from hundreds of Vermonters asking how the economic recovery plan will affect their daily lives and our state’s future. Small business owners, local officials, nonprofit service providers and many others have questions, and this conference is the next step to putting this plan into action to create jobs and to make life better here in Vermont.”

Governor Douglas said, “My Administration is working diligently with President Obama’s team in Washington, Senator Leahy and our federal delegation, legislative leaders in Montpelier and all Vermonters to most effectively utilize the funds from the federal recovery package and get our economy back on track. This workshop will be an important opportunity for agencies and departments to share the most recent information and receive feedback from Vermont residents and businesses who may be impacted by this infusion of federal dollars.”

Federal officials and representatives of state agencies will offer their perspective on the economic recovery package during seven workshop sessions focusing on: how to access infrastructure improvement funding; accessing energy and broadband infrastructure funding; assisting small businesses interested in doing business with federal and state agencies; identifying small business provisions that may help weather the difficult economy; accessing first-responder and criminal justice funding opportunities; identifying health, human services, and labor and education funding opportunities; and a session targeted at Vermont families trying to understand how the tax and grant opportunities in the legislation will directly affect their bottom lines.

Participants can expect broad overviews of selected programs and question and answer sessions with program experts. Leahy noted that many of the funding formulas and program details contained in the legislation are still being finalized. He said he hopes the conference “will get Vermonters thinking about how the stimulus package can strengthen Vermont’s economy and lay the groundwork not only for the jobs of today, but also the jobs of tomorrow.”

Federal support for VT's pre-k programs?

A great friend of high quality pre-k, Hawaii's Representative Mazie Hirono has introduced a bill that would provide $1 billion each year in federal grants to help strengthen pre-k programs. The money is meant to be used along with state funding.

The bill is called the Providing Resources Early for Kids (PRE-K) Act (H.R. 702).

According to the Hawaii Reporter article today - "Congresswoman Hirono initially introduced the PRE-K Act two years ago, during the 110th Congress, and successfully guided it through the House Education and Labor Committee where it was passed last June by a vote of 31-11. The PRE-K Act was one of only 25 bills reported out of committee, out of the 905 bills referred to the committee. Because the bill was not scheduled for a vote on the House floor last year, Congresswoman Hirono reintroduced the bill in this Congress. 56 members of Congress have already signed on as original cosponsors of this year’s legislation."

Here's the full story:

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?e8de5a91-2e58-46e3-a351-ec2c9b61b479