We're making strides on early education
CommonWealth Magazine, Fall 2007
Letter to the Editor by Margaret Blood

As your title correctly states (“In Tight Times, Universal Preschool Gets Held Back,” Inquiries, CW, Spring ’07), times are tight. However, contrary to the article’s premise that the effort to expand access to high-quality early education opportunities for all 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds throughout Massachusetts has diminished in recent years, there have actually been many positive and significant steps taken by the Commonwealth toward achieving this goal.
In 2005, the state created the first-in-the-nation Department of Early Education and Care. Among EEC’s statutory responsibilities is to oversee the development and implementation of voluntary, universally accessible, high-quality early childhood education for all preschoolers in the Commonwealth. To this end, the Legislature appropriated $4.6 million for pilot funding for the Massachusetts Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program (MA UPK) in the fiscal 2007 state budget. This pilot funded 131 grants to programs serving 5,900 children in 62 cities and towns to promote school readiness and to inform the longer-term implementation of the MA UPK program. Despite a challenging budget cycle of significant structural deficits and escalating costs, MA UPK received a $2.5 million (54 percent) funding increase in the state’s fiscal 2008 budget.

The Legislature has also acted upon evidence that the most effective pre-kindergarten teachers have specialized training in early childhood education, establishing the early educator scholarship program in fiscal 2006 with funding of $1 million. This program has awarded 1,273 scholarships to help educators obtain either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree and, thus, improve the quality of early education and care programs for our young children. Due to demand, the Legislature tripled the program’s funding to $3 million in fiscal 2007 and further increased funding to $4 million in the fiscal 2008 budget. Additionally, the Legislature has continued to annually increase investments in full-day kindergarten, Head Start, and the low-income child care programs, all of which represent important elements of the state’s early childhood education and care system. Since fiscal 2005, the Commonwealth has increased investments in early education and care in the state budget by nearly $100 million.

Last session, the Legislature unanimously passed An Act Relative to Early Education and Care, a comprehensive proposal for the effective development of a coordinated system of early education and care in Massachusetts. Regrettably, Gov. Romney vetoed the bill at the end of the session, but the legislation has been refiled and has already been heard before the Joint Committee on Education. Advocates are optimistic that it will again receive the strong support of the Legislature and be signed into law by Gov. Patrick. Most recently, Patrick has introduced the Readiness Project, a group of educators, legislators, business leaders, and community leaders who will work to create a plan that provides universal pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten.

The process of ensuring that all young children in the Commonwealth have access to universal pre-kindergarten built upon a mixed system of public schools and private providers is a monumental task and one that requires many systematic and bureaucratic changes to take place before it can be successfully achieved. Our funding recommendations purposely assume a long-term and deliberate roll-out process that ensures that the money can be invested effectively. To suggest that the issue has lost some momentum because large amounts of funding have not been allocated to UPK is inaccurate and fails to appreciate the thoughtful process that the Commonwealth has undertaken to successfully achieve high-quality “early education for all” young children.

Margaret Blood
President/campaign director
The Early Education for All Campaign
Boston