Facts In Action

The Early Education for All Campaign — a coalition of leaders from business, organized labor, education, religion, healthcare, and early care and education — gathered along with state legislators, parents and advocates from across the state to kick-off the next phase of their broad-based legislative campaign on October 23, 2002 at the Massachusetts State House.

The event celebrated two years of research and community involvement in the development of a draft legislative proposal designed to ensure that every three-, four-, and five-year-old in the Commonwealth has access to a high-quality early childhood education. The Early Education for All Campaign has convened 32 community forums, interviewed more than 100 early childhood experts and presented at over 60 public meetings to gather input on the Campaign's goals and the design of the policy proposal.

The Early Education for All Legislation seeks to:

• Ensure that every preschool-aged child has access to a high-quality early childhood education which meets professionally accepted standards, is staffed by well-trained early educators, and is delivered through the existing mixed system of public and private programs;
  
• Establish a state level system to improve the training, education, and compensation of the early childhood and school-age workforce; and
  
• Provide access to high-quality, full school-day public kindergarten for all families who desire it.

The lead sponsors of the bill, Representative Peter Larkin, House Chairman of the Education Committee, and Senator Fred Berry, Vice Chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, also spoke pledging their support for the legislation.

A Policy Committee - made up of early childhood experts from the Campaign's Advisory Committee - is completing a draft of the legislation that will be filed at the State House on December 4, 2002. The Committee will continue to meet after the bill is filed to monitor the bill's progress and track any proposed changes.

How can you help make children a top priority in Massachusetts? Join the Early Education for All Field Team! The Campaign is recruiting volunteers from every sector and in every area of the state to communicate with elected officials and become advocates at the local level.

The Early Education for All Campaign is an initiative of Strategies for Children Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the well-being of children and families through public policy, advocacy, and constituency building efforts.

Facts in Action, October 2002