Bridgeport preschoolers and parents could benefit from recent Connecticut Legislature approvals that advanced major early childhood legislation, taking the state a step closer to universal access to preschools.
The desks may be tiny, but officials including Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, see big paybacks for business, “because it keeps parents at their jobs.”
Through the legislation, a $13.8 million budget for fiscal year 2015 would provide funding to begin phasing in 1,020 preschool slots, increase per-child rate payments by 3 percent and establish a statewide office for early childhood.
Gov. Dannel Malloy is expected to sign the bills into law in the coming weeks, according to a statement.
About $5.8 million will go to increase the “early care and education quality” programs by establishing a rating and improvement system and increasing the frequency of licensing inspections. Funding will increase by $3 million for Care 4 Kids, a program sponsored by the state”™s Department of Social Services, based on caseload projects.
The 1,020 preschool slots will be allocated based on need. Through a competitive process, the governor will determine which schools get the slots.
Over the years, about 1,593 slots have been filled in Bridgeport through the state-funded school readiness program, which provides money to schools and communities that have met specific guidelines for making an environmentally safe and educational space for preschoolers. The Bridgeport school readiness program is open to all Bridgeport-area children between the ages of 3 and 4. About 60 percent of the slots are specifically designated for children who come from families earning incomes below the median income level, said Tina Peloso-Ulreich, director of early childhood education for Bridgeport Public Schools. With limited funding to serve the nearly 4,760 preschool-aged children in Bridgeport, Bridgeport Public Schools have requested grants to support 419 to 450 more preschoolers, riding on the legislation”™s support of increasing the number of preschool seats through the state”™s school readiness program, Peloso-Ulreich said.
The legislation calls for increasing reimbursements for its school readiness program. In Bridgeport, that would mean the per-child funding would increase from $8,346 for a child enrolled in a full-day preschool program to $8,670 each year.
The Office of Early Childhood will provide funding, standards, regulations, training and oversight to ensure early care and education for young children are safe, healthy and nurturing, according to the Office of Early Education website. It also aims to ensure programs support children”™s physical, social, emotional and cognitive developments.
“The Office of Early Childhood has done phenomenal things as it”™s been constituted by the executive order of the governor,” said Lee Helmerich, school readiness coordinator. “We need this office because what they”™ve done is given Connecticut preschools frameworks. It provides assessments, early learning and development standards and teacher qualifications. There”™s been a richness of growth and development in the field and a real quality in standards to teach specific developmentally important curriculum.”
About 32 percent of Bridgeport children enter kindergarten without a preschool education. The learning gap between those who attend preschool and those who do not becomes evident by the third grade, said Finch. That”™s enough motivation to urge parents to enroll their children into a preschool program, he said.
But for many parents in Bridgeport, it”™s a matter of money. Bridgeport parents with preschool-aged children who are not enrolled in preschool are most likely to stay out of the workforce to take care of them, Finch said. The push for universal preschool impacts businesses because it keeps parents at their jobs and allows them to contribute to the state”™s economic growth, he added.
“Our problem is we have willing parents who want to send their kids to preschool, but they don”™t have the money to provide it,” Finch said. “These new slots will mean more people can send their children to preschool. It”™s important for Bridgeport to get more preschool seats, but the reality is we are competing against other cities in the state.”
Another component of the bill is creating the Connecticut Smart Start, a competitive grant program created to allow school districts to apply for funds and build new preschool spaces in public schools in districts with unmet needs. Priority is given to low-income children.
“The additional funding offers schools opportunities to development appropriate programs in literacy and numeracy and offers them the ability to develop oral language and social skills,” Peloso-Ulreich said. “So many children are coming to us with a lack of those skills, and we want to help them develop into successful life-long learners.”
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