CT will prioritize early childhood education in 2025 legislative session

Last December, a panel of experts created a five year plan to reform Connecticut’s early childhood education system, and now, almost a year later, despite challenges with financingStakeholders are re-emphasizing their commitment to making child care more accessible as the 2025 legislative session approaches.

At a panel hosted by the Office of Early Childhood on Tuesday morning, state commissioners, national experts and lawmakers came together to emphasize the importance of a family-centered model that, beyond providing care and education to children, also Target workforce development for both parents and educators. .

“I want this to be the most family-friendly state in the country,” Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday.

In March 2023, Lamont established the “Blue ribbon panel”, a group of public and private sector leaders, early childhood experts, educators and parents charged with designing a strategic plan for the state’s child care system.

The group proposed a five-year reform that would cost more than $2 billion to implement, encompassing higher salaries, simplified credentialing and expanded benefits for teachers; more parenting subsidies and flexible childcare schedules; grants to help stabilize providers; thousands of new child care spaces; and countless technical improvements to the system, among other objectives.

the plan gradually implemented dozens of “key action steps” over the next five years, starting with workforce development, teacher benefits and compensation, and improvements to system infrastructure in the first three years. This is followed by greater affordability and access for families in years 2 to 5.

“The plan set an ambitious goal for Connecticut, so we have to get there. We’re proud of the plan and we’re proud of our progress, but guess what? We’re not even close to finishing. We still have very important work to do,” said Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye.

“We need to improve access. We need to let families know what we are doing so they know where to access services. “We can build the best system, but if they don’t know it… (then) we won’t help their kids and we won’t help them succeed,” Bye added. “We need to keep equity at the center and we have heard it time and time again. We have to simplify the system and… we must recognize the transformative work that our early childhood professionals do every day. “We need to recognize that with better wages, conditions and job supports.”

Beth Bye, Commissioner of the Office of Early Childhood, spoke about the importance of expanding early childhood care and the benefits it has for Connecticut’s economy.

Earlier this legislative session, education groups, including those advocating for early childhood care, K-12 education, and higher education, saw a crash for financial resources. Lawmakers initially included $150 million for K-12 education funding reforms in the $26 billion draft budget adopted for fiscal year 2024-25, but Lamont wanted to reduce that to $111 million by cutting increases for magnet, charter and agriculture and vocational science. schools, and then redirect some of the funds to help accelerate the growth of child care funding.

It didn’t get very far, with outcry from several education stakeholders, including Education Committee co-chairman Jeff Currey, who said in February that the move seemed as if different education systems were “pitted against each other.”

Instead, lawmakers approved a $370 million budget stabilization plan and thus avoided adjusting the preliminary $26 billion budget adopted in June 2023 to 2024-25. The bill included $18.8 million for the CT Care 4 Kids program, a partnership between the state and several child care services. It also included $8.2 million for other child care and early childhood development programs.

But despite these challenges, Bye redoubled the state’s commitment to better funding the early childhood care system.

“I have been an advocate since early childhood, since Worthy bets …and I can assure you that no governor, no administration, has led on these issues like Governor Lamont has,” Bye said. “Your presence today is a sign of commitment.”

At Tuesday’s panel, Bye, Lamont and other stakeholders heard from national experts who weighed in on Connecticut’s plan, many of whom praised the state’s efforts.

“As you look at your plan and see that you were looking at ways to provide more affordable housing for some of your families, you’re looking at the entire ecosystem and recognizing that education is just one component,” said Barbara Cooper, the senior vice president of professional learning at Start earlya not-for-profit early childhood charity. “When you really look at it through an equity lens, you’re looking at that whole child, you’re looking at that whole family… Not only are we going to have high-quality early learning, but we also want to make sure that families have the jobs they need and have the housing they need. “With that kind of comprehensive approach, you are ultimately building the state you want for the future.”

Among those who spoke alongside Cooper was Ellen Galinsky, president of the Family and Work Institutea national nonprofit research organization focused on family life and child development and Michelle Kang, executive director of National Association for the Education of Young Children.

“I think starting with babies and toddlers is something you did well. I think having a mixed delivery system is something you did well. I think paying attention to the workforce and equity at the core is something you did well. … I think there’s a real focus on creating a more streamlined system that I think is really wonderful,” Galinsky said, while highlighting points for improvement.

“The one thing I think I would ask for more is for child development to be focused on children, paying attention to what we know about how relationships are most important to children, but also to what happens to children in those relationships. What are they learning? What is this childhood learning? Not just numbers, letters and colors, but what are the skills? What are their feelings about themselves?

Panelists also highlighted the importance of the environment and ensuring that the psychological needs of both children and educators are met.

For children, that means access to spaces where they can develop important relationships and feel like they belong. For educators, this seems like a better trade-off for recruiting and retaining them in the field.

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