A Quick Review of Early Care and Funding: FY 07 Budget Update

This document presents a summary of FY 2007 funding for early care and education in Connecticut. The FY 2007 early care and education budget in the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) and State Department of Education (SDE), combined, is nearly $20 million more than the FY 2006 early care and education budget. However, funding for early care initiatives in the FY 2007 DSS and SDE budgets is still about $6 million less than actual funding in FY 2002. Despite the overall increase in early care funding, some programs do not see the investments they need to make sure working Connecticut families have access to affordable child care. SDE programs, and specifically, families with preschoolers enrolled in School Readiness programs, are the primary beneficiaries of increased funding in the 2007 early care and education budget. Programs that have received major new investments and programs that have been reduced or ignored are listed.