Virginia ranks in the bottom third among the states when it comes to early childhood education. Governor Ralph Northam is proposing a $95 million bump in funding, directed mostly toward at-risk 4-year-olds. There will be public hearings around the state, January 2nd, on this historically large budget item aimed at giving Virginia’s children the support they need to thrive in school.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is proposing a new infusion of funding for early childhood education.
If approved, it would be a record amount of money, some 95- million dollars to help children below the poverty line, mostly at the age of four.Research has shown that children who are unprepared for kindergarten are much less likely to be reading proficiently by third grade and if so, will be four times more likely to drop out of high school.
The goal is to ensure that every child enters kindergarten prepared to succeed, but almost half of children in Virginia arrive without the social-emotional and other skills they need to thrive because they don’t get quality early education. So says, Bethany Mott, Executive Director of the Alliance for Better Childcare Strategies (ABCs). She will be at the public hearing in Blacksburg this Thursday.
“I am going to voice my support for the new funding to our legislature, but we really need to look at what the funding priorities are.
There will also be public hearings on the proposed budget for early childhood education in Richmond, Hampton Roads and in Northern Virginia.
Mott is concerned that the bulk of the $95- million for early childhood education is slated for at risk 4-year olds. And while that’s important, she says, it’s actually the youngest kids, who need the most support. “Because we know that 80% of brain development happens before age three.”
Mott would like to see greater emphasis on the quality of early childhood education, including better pay for highly trained teachers, and more funding for economically challenged families to pay for private care.
“I think it's great. Any injection of new funding, and this is significant at $95 million is, is wonderful, but I do think we need to look very strategically, and I would like to see a greater emphasis on incentivizing quality.” And there are a couple of ways to do that. “One can pay bigger stipends to teachers as they reach certain goals of professional development. And you can give childcare centers larger, per child, subsidies for those who are there through the subsidy program if they are higher quality centers. So there are some easy ways to put build quality incentives into the system that's not being done. She adds, there is a lot that’s being done well, and he heartily approves many aspects of the proposal.
Mott says the biggest challenge, “Certainly here in the new river Valley, infant and toddler care is almost impossible to find. And this budget really doesn't have any emphasis or funding on those critical zero to three ages.” She is hoping people will attend the hearings to voice their opinions on the budget proposal for early childhood education in Virginia.
Here are the locations and times for public hearings around the state:
