Setting the Context
Connecticut has made a commitment to getting its young children to kindergarten fully ready for school success. To help frame public policy deliberation about how to accomplish this goal, the ECE Finance Project, a public-private initiative, is developing a set of cost formulas, an analysis of current funding and the national "return on investment" literature, and a review of financing models in use in other states and large municipalities.
Governor M. Jodi Rell has asked for a briefing -- by November 15th -- on the report that the Project will issue. The final report and cost modeling templates will be issued before the end of calendar year 2004. The ECE Finance Project is actively incorporating the work of the CT Early Childhood Alliance, the CT Career Ladder Task Force, and CT's federally funded Early Childhood Partners effort.
The ECE Finance Project has focused its initial effort around costs and assumptions related to the provision of quality preschool programs, experiences and settings for children ages three and four. The Project acknowledges, however, that the state will need to plan around an "Early Learning System" that includes the provision of health and nutrition, family support, early intervention for special needs, and early care and education, and that is directed at children ages birth to eight, their families and their communities, including the programs, providers and supports available at the community level.
To assure that the work of the ECE Finance Project is anchored in current national thinking and best practices on children's readiness for school, the Project is also drawing on resources from:
- The [1] National Governor's Association to benefit from the work of the NGA Task Force on School Readiness whose report "Preparing AMerica's Childen to Learn" will be released in January 2004;
- The [2] Trust for Early Education,
- The [3] BUILD Initiative ,
- The [4] State Early Childhood Policy Technical Assistance Network and,
- The national [5] ECE Communications Collaborative.
Many members of the ECE Finance Project have worked together over the past 24 months to guide a study of the economic impact of Connecticut's early care and education industry on the state's economy - [6] The Economic Impact and Profile of Connecticut's ECE Industry . This study, released on October 28, 2004, was funded by CT Voices for Children and the Child Health and Development Institute. It was conducted by the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at the University of Connecticut.
The report shows Connecticut's licensed early care and education "industry" to be a nearly one billion dollar sector, to support fully 10% of the state's workforce, and to employ at least 15,000 workers. The report, based on the state's licensed ECE providers (i.e., centers and licensed family homes) recognized that there is an additional (and likely substantial) economic contribution from Connecticut's unlicensed child care sector as well.
Leadership
Initially, the ECE Finance Project was led by Janice Gruendel (then Co-President of CT Voices for Children) and James Horan (Executive Director of the CT Assocation for Human Services. In August 2004, Dr. Gruendel was tapped by Governor Rell to guide the Governor's emerging early childhood investment initiative, and Gruendel stepped down as co-chair of the ECE Finance Project.
Current leadership of the ECE Finance Project is shared as follows:
Co-Chair: [7] David Nee, Executive Director, William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund
Co-Chair: [8] James Horan, Executive Director, CT Association for Human Services
Vice Chair for Project Management: [9] Harry Orlick, Ready, Set, Grow... CT Kids! campaign
Project Leaders:
Cost Methodology: [10] Jeff Asher, CFO, CT Health and Education Finance Authority
Workforce: [11] Alice Pritchard, Executive Director, CT Women's Education and Legal Fund
Capital Infrastructure: [12] David Wasch, Executive Director, Children's Investment Partnership
Assessment/Accountability: [13] Susan Wilson, Child Health and Development Institute
Governance Infrastructure: [14] Elizabeth Brown, CT Commission on Children and [15] Janice Gruendel, Governor's Office
Network of Initiatives
The ECE Finance Project is one component in an expanding network of initiatives -- funded through state, community and philanthropic resources -- to advance the goal of assuring that all of the state's children, beginning with those born in 2004, enter kindergarten optimally healthy, eager to learn, and ready for school success. This goal of universal "readiness" was first adopted by the [16] CT Early Childhood Alliance in May 2003. At present, 40 organizations are members of the Alliance.
Another component of this network of initiatives is Connecticut's [17] Ready, Set, Grow...CT Kids! campaign, an effort designed to educate the public about the importance of investing in children's early years, to enlist their public support of the goal of "all children ready," and to encourage their engagement at the state and local levels.
A third, and expanding, component of this work involves philanthropic support for community efforts to assure the readiness and school success of their children. These efforts include the Discovery Community Initiative (the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund), Brighter Futures (Hartford Foundation for Public Giving), First Years First (Community Foundation for Greater New Haven), LitLinks (CT Community Foundation), and Success by Six (CT United Ways).
[1]: http://www.nga.org
[2]: http://www.trustforearlyeducation.org
[3]: http://www.buildinitiative.org
[4]: http://www.finebynine.org
[5]: http://www.earlycare.org
[6]: http://www.stage.readysetgrowctkids.org/resource_72.html
[7]: mailto:davidnee@wcgmf.org
[8]: mailto:jhoran@cahs.org
[9]: mailto:hmorlick@optonline.net
[10]: mailto:jasher@chefa.com
[11]: mailto:apritchard@cwealf.org
[12]: mailto:dwasch@liscnet.org
[13]: mailto:swilson@uhch.edu
[14]: mailto:elizabeth.brown@po.state.ct.us
[15]: mailto:janice.gruendel@aya.yale.edu
[16]: http://www.readysetgrowctkids.org/ece.html
[17]: http://www.readysetgrowctkids.org