2010-2011 child care budget

Investing in a brighter future for Pennsylvania
through quality early education

Whether you define success for Pennsylvania as a strong economy, effective schools, reduced crime, or thriving communities, early education is key. Research shows that early education:
• Provides more regional economic stimulus than any other sector ;
• Is important to community growth, sustainability and diversity as working families need access to quality, reliable education ;
• Promotes healthy brain development in the critical first five years;
• Helps children, especially those at risk for school failure, build early language, math and social skills to enter school ready to learn; and
• Provides long-term benefits that a child carries throughout his/her life, making them more likely to graduate high school, attend college, have higher earnings and own a home.

Pennsylvania’s early education continuum is:

Providing quality early learning opportunities for children throughout Pennsylvania that work well together
Pennsylvania’s early education programs are based on quality standards that align with each other, through kindergarten and beyond.
• All programs use the Pennsylvania Early Learning Standards to guide curriculum, child observation and assessment.
• Teachers and directors can follow the Early Childhood Career Lattice and get help to earn professional credentials and college degrees to increase their skills and remain in the field for a lifetime.

Establishing strong accountability across the system
Pennsylvania has a comprehensive accountability system to ensure that quality expectations are met and public funds are used appropriately.
• Regular reporting on teacher qualifications, classroom demographics, and financial expenditures required; onsite review of policies and practices for most programs.
• Independent assessors use the nationally-recognized Environment Rating Scales to assess classroom quality and teacher interaction.
• Pennsylvania’s Early Learning Network collects information of children’s participation in early childhood programs and their developmental progress to help teachers better guide children’s growth and help the state evaluate program effectiveness.

Supporting leadership in local communities
As parents demand more quality early learning opportunities, local communities need to share information on why quality early education is important and what opportunities are available.
• Pennsylvania’s Early Learning Council and advisory committees provide feedback and guidance on Pennsylvania’s policies and share information through their leadership networks.
• Early Childhood Community Engagement Groups bring together early education programs, schools, and other organizations serving children to educate their communities on early learning opportunities
In 2010-2011, Pennsylvania will:
1. Strive for higher quality and increased access by implementing Keystone Babies, a quality initiative for at-risk infants and toddlers; and develop a Director’s Toolkit for Continuous Quality Improvement.
2. Refine accountability and document positive outcomes for children by incorporating additional programs into the Early Learning Network.
3. Support local leadership by implementing the National Institute for School Leadership (NISL) Early Childhood Leadership Program.

The Governor’s proposed budget for early education for 2010-2011 will:

Serve additional families in:
• Early Intervention – Expanding to reach 81,696 children (34,384 infants and toddlers and 47,312 preschoolers) by adding 1,172 infants and toddlers and 1,229 preschoolers.

Sustain progress in:
• Child Care Works Subsidized Child Care Program – Sustaining to reach approximately 134,400 children (monthly average).
• Keystone STARS – Sustaining higher quality early learning opportunities for over 177,000 children and making it possible for programs to achieve higher STAR levels.
• Nurse-Family Partnership –Sustaining to reach more than 4,200 children and families.
• Parent-Child Home Program – Sustaining to reach approximately 1,500 children and families.

Reduce services to children in:
• Head Start Supplemental – Services to 117 children will be removed, which would lower the children served from 5,743 to approximately 5,626 children.
• Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts – Services to 68 children will be removed, which would lower the children from 11,800 to approximately 11,732 children.