| Accomplishments |
 |
| |
| SFC led successful efforts that: |
| • |
Merged child care and early education bureaucracies to create the nation’s first consolidated Department of Early Education and Care in 2005; |
| • |
Secured more than $173 million in increased public investments in early education and care since 2005; |
| • |
Created the Massachusetts Universal
Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) grant program in the FY07 state budget; |
| • |
Doubled the percentage of Massachusetts
kindergartners in full-day programs—from 38 percent in 2000 to 75 percent in 2009; |
| • |
Created the Early Educators Scholarship
Program, which since FY06 has awarded more than 3,300 scholarships to early educators to pursue college degrees; and |
| • |
Formally established UPK in state law in 2008 with unanimous legislative approval. |
