Photo: Caroline Silber for Strategies for Children

Across Massachusetts, communities are ready to expand their high-quality preschool programs.

All they need is more state funding.

And with budget season in full swing, now is a great time to ask the Legislature to invest well and wisely in early education and care.

Communities have been waiting for preschool funding for several years. In 2016, “thanks to state-funded planning grants,” 13 Massachusetts communities developed preschool expansion plans, as Titus DosRemedios explains in this Alliance for Early Success blog post. DosRemedios is Strategies for Children’s director of research and policy. He adds:

“The grants piggyback off of Massachusetts’ federal Preschool Expansion Grant, which provides high-quality full-day, full-year preschool to more than 850 four-year-olds annually in five cities.”

Since 2016, the list has grown to 18 communities, thanks to two more rounds of preschool planning grants from the Department of Early Education and Care that were funded in the FY17 and FY18 state budgets.

This year, as we’ve blogged, is the first year the state has switched from planning to implementation grants. The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care “announced the recipients of the fiscal year 2019 preschool expansion grants.” Known as Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI), “the program awarded funding to six communities: New Bedford, Somerville, North Adams, Springfield, Lowell, and Boston.” These grants are a great down-payment towards “universal” preschool offerings in these communities. 

Now is the time to fund all the communities that have plans. Recently, 12 communities applied for the FY19 CPPI grant, but only six were awarded grants due to limited funding available.

Instead of letting all this local preparation go to waste, the Legislature should invest in progress.

Early educators made this point two weeks ago during Advocacy Day at the State House.

“Now that Governor Charlie Baker has filed his fiscal year 2020 budget, it’s time to keep the advocacy going by reminding legislators about key budget items,” we said in that Advocacy Day blog.

These items include the:

• Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative: $25 Million (an increase of $20 Million in Line Item 3000-6025) – to sustain current preschool programming (CPPI and PEG) and expand to new communities, and the

• Early Education Rate Reserve to address Program Quality & the Early Educator Workforce: $24.45 Million (Line Item 3000-1042) – to help more early educators earn a livable wage.

So seize the day and keep your outreach efforts going. Get to know your state legislators. Invite them to your programs. Send them art made by your program’s children. And keep early education and care high up the state’s agenda.

It’s time for Massachusetts to invest in early education and care in all the communities that are ready to go.