Plan4Preschool November Newsletter (Santa Barbara County)

In the November 2009 Issue:

• Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2010 and funding in California
• November County Showcase: Santa Barbara County
• Plan4Preschool Quick FAQ

Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2010 and funding in California

Pre-K Now's recently released Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2010 report reveals that overall state investments in pre-K will rise only a bit over one percent. While 10 legislatures’ decreased funds for preschool and six states flat funded their programs, legislatures in most states still supported and protected their pre-k programs. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia increased or are projected to increase pre-k investments by a total of more than $187 million. Thirteen legislatures increased investment in programs by nearly $130 million including California, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The report lists California as having increased the California State Preschool Program by $9.5 million for a total of $438.9 million, however, this was achieved with the reclassification of programs that were already serving preschool-aged children.

Additionally Governor Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S-23-09 on November 9th establishing the California State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care, making California eligible to compete for federal Head Start funds available through President Obama’s Recovery Act. California is expected to receive as much as $10.7 million over three years. The California State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care will plan-for and ensure California’s application process meets federal requirements and make the state competitive for the funds. As part of the executive order ELQIS (Early Learning Quality Improvement System) has been established as an official committee of the Council.

November County Showcase: Santa Barbara County

The Santa Barbara County Preschool for All Commission established its Master Plan for universal preschool in 2005. Subsequently, the Commission voted to support a local initiative to plan and implement the project through pilot projects, including a universal preschool pilot site at McKinley Elementary School within the Santa Barbara School District. Funding for the project came from First 5 Santa Barbara. This included ECE workforce development, site building and quality improvement, the NAEYC Accreditation project, the Higher Education development project, expanding preschool spaces in K-12 schools and engaging parents, businesses and the general community in addressing the importance of ECE.

The pilot program ran from 2005 to June 2009 and offered 160 children preschool experiences in the three academic years of its operation. Though the program is no longer in operation, McKinley was seen as a valuable experience with many lessons learned. Four new school districts: Carpinteria, Goleta, Blochman and Orcutt, have included preschool expansion efforts in their K-12 master plans. The first cohort of students from McKinley completed their second grade this past year and results have been analyzed in correlation with their STAR test scores from late spring. Excellent outcomes will be posted on the First 5 Santa Barbara website.

Eight of the 28 programs within the Accreditation Facilitation project will have their results from NAEYC by the end of this fall. The Higher Education developing project has resulted in the development of a new BA program through Antioch University and enrolled 50 students in BA programs and provided grants to assist with student attendance. The first ECE workforce cohort graduated in spring 2009. First 5 Santa Barbara contracted with UC Berkeley and four other counties to study the effectiveness of the cohort model and can be found at www.irle.berkeley.edu/cscce.

A county-wide strategic plan from 2006-2015, developed by the Santa Barbara County Child Care Planning Council, aims to improve quality child care and is of broad concern to the community in constructing connections between child-focused agencies and communities in Santa Barbara County. The Santa Barbara School District is now housing the Waterford Reading program, a pre-literacy program run through a traveling mobile van equipped with computers. Additionally, both Santa Barbara and Lompoc School Districts are implementing the HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) program, a home-based scripted 30 week program intended to instruct parents and conduct lessons for children who cannot afford to attend preschool programs. It is also aimed at English Language Learners, though anyone can participate in the program.

Another prominent program in Santa Barbara County is the County Office of Education's ZACA center, recognized as a model for preschool inclusion and integration for children with special needs. The ZACA center is featured on the SEEDS (Supporting Early Education Delivery Systems) website. The ZACA center is NAEYC accredited. SEEDS is a project of the California Department of Education, Special Education Division and is under the auspices of the Sacramento County Office of Education. Additionally the County Office of Education's Special Education Division provides services for children in need of daily services, while less intensive services are available to state, Head Start and private preschools.

Do you know of areas where preschool planning is happening? Do you know of a particular ECE program that is doing phenomenal work?

Give us a heads up and let us know. You could be featured in next month's newsletter and on the Plan4Preschool website!

Plan4Preschool Quick FAQ

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I want to help promote P4P! Expand P4P by word-of-mouth and demonstrate the power of community networking! Join our Facebook fanpage, follow us on Twitter and forward these newsletters on to your friends, co-workers, students and anyone who is working towards the cause of advancing preschool in California.

We encourage you to use P4P to help to build and strengthen preschool in your community and in California!

Karen Hill Scott, Ed.D.
Plan4Preschool

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