Early Care and Education(ECE)

Voices is a key player in educating legislators and the public about the importance of ensuring that all children enter kindergarten ready to learn. Voices co-leads the Public Engagement Work Group of Virginia's comprehensive early childhood initiative, called Virginia's Plan for Smart Beginnings. Voices also created and leads the statewide Coalition for Early Childhood Education (CECE).

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SUCCESSES

In the 2009 General Assembly session, Voices and Just Children, a program of the Legal Aid Justice Center, spearheaded a low-profile but effective campaign to preserve the Virginia Preschool Initiative, the state’s program to serve at-risk 4-year-olds.  Despite the bleak budget situation in the Commonwealth, legislators maintained funding for all current slots in FY 2009, which now total 15,639 statewide, and maintained adequate funding to allow for a possible increase in slots in FY 2010. They also capped the local index at 50%, an important component to encourage maximum participation by localities. While there was a cut of $11.9 million from what was originally budgeted for FY 2010, this reduction does not cut the number of available slots. It merely reduces the projected rate of growth because localities were not going to be able to fill all 21,000 allotted slots in that time period.

Voices’ strategy was to remind legislators that VPI is not a new program, even though Democratic Governor Kaine has been a strong champion for it. VPI was actually created in 1994 under then-Governor George Allen, a Republican. It has been supported ever since by a bi-partisan group of lawmakers in both the Senate and the House because it works. Research throughout the country has shown that high quality preschool programs have a positive impact on school readiness, particularly for at-risk children. In 2007, Virginia’s own Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission studied VPI and found that children who participated in VPI were significantly better prepared for kindergarten than their peers who did not participate.

EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION PUBLICATIONS

• “Achieving Excellence in Early Care for Virginia’s Infants and Toddlers,” (pdf, summer, 2009) written for the Virginia Infant & Toddler Specialist Network, discusses the importance of high quality infant and toddler care, the availability of care in Virginia, and the ITS Network’s efforts to improve quality.
• Virginia Head Start Data Brief - A History of Strengthing Families and Communities (pdf) January, 2008
• The Virginia School Readiness Task Force's 2008 Virginia School Readiness Report describes the many accomplishments in the Commonwealth around building infrastructure for early childhood initiatives, researching the quality and impact of preschool, and developing resources to assist those working in early childhood programs. Voices for Virginia's Children is pleased to participate in a number of the initiatives described, including Virginia’s Plan for Smart Beginnings and the Professional Development Task Force.
• The 2006 School Readiness Indicators contains key data indicators that are documented by an impressive body of research as measures of school readiness, and that are currently collected at the state and local levels. The regular reporting of indicators that describe the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive well-being of children enables policymakers and opinion leaders to identify areas most in need of intervention, track the results of their investments, and watch trends over time. School Readiness Indicators 2006 - 2 mb version pdf or 5 mb version pdf . July, 2006.