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Showing stories 1 - 15 of 32.
VA - Kaine's preschool expansion to include private, religious centers
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Friday, August 17 @ 09:28:52 EDT by kkurth
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An expansion of preschool could accommodate an additional 17,000 low-income 4-year-olds within five years, partly through state reimbursements to church-run and private early childhood programs, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Thursday.
The state would pay about $75 million more a year to expand Head Start and other pre-kindergarten programs that now cost the state about $50 million annually.
Kaine's program, which he calls "Start Strong," would expand enrollment by broadening eligibility from children of families with annual incomes of $26,845 or less to include the working poor, with incomes of up to $38,203 a year.
Enrollment for children and participation in the program by either public, nonprofit, religious or private child-care providers would be voluntary, Kaine said.
Providers, whether public schools, churches or day care provided either in private businesses or in people's homes, would have to meet instructional quality standards that have not yet been developed, he said.
"The experience of a year of research and review of other states and international models has convinced us to take advantage of the network we already have rather than scrap it and start from scratch," Kaine told reporters after briefing a lunch crowd of educators, lobbyists and business leaders who filled a hotel ballroom.
The state will reimburse religious and private firms for every pupil who is part of the state-backed program. Kaine dismissed any similarity to the contentious idea of tax-supported "vouchers" that defray the education costs for parents who prefer private schools to public ones for their children.
"I am a big fan of K-12 education publicly funded and not vouchers or tuition tax credits," Kaine said. But to expand preschool using only public schools, the cost would run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, a nonstarter with the state facing a $300 million budget shortfall.
"I think that just as in college education there is a very diverse network of public and private institutions and the private institutions receive public support from TAG (tuition assistance) grants that support kids that go to in-state private schools," he said. "The expansion of this diverse network for pre-K education makes a lot of sense but it doesn't affect what I think is the appropriate organizational model for K-12."
Reaction from legislative Republicans was guarded.
G. Paul Nardo, the top aide to House Speaker William J. Howell, said it was too early and there were too few details available to fairly judge it.
"It's so scaled back. It's a shadow of itself," Nardo said. "It's clear he was listening to us."
As a candidate two years ago, Kaine envisioned a universal pre-kindergarten initiative that would have entitled every Virginia 4-year-old to free public preschool, regardless of whether the child's family is wealthy or impoverished.
Full text available at the Washington Examiner
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VA - Kaine pressing forward with prekindergarten plans
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Wednesday, July 25 @ 10:45:37 EDT by kkurth
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Decreases in Virginia’s revenue collections will not stop Gov. Tim Kaine from proposing new government programs next year, the commonwealth’s chief executive told The Examiner.
Virginia ended fiscal 2007 on June 30 with a budget deficit that “was closer to $200 million” than the $300 million that state finance officials had predicted last month, Kaine said last week in Springfield. The governor and his advisers are preparing to present an updated economic and revenue outlook to the General Assembly’s budget-writing committees Aug. 20. The presentation will center on the health of the state’s economy and whether the factors that caused the $200 million deficit will cause future shortfalls.
“I am not worried,” Kaine said. “I have been through this before.”
The state’s financial situation has squelched Kaine’s desire to expand prekindergarten programs for 4-year-olds in Virginia. The state already pays for children from low-income families to attend preschool, but the governor wants to expand the program to offer education to every child in the state.
“In tight times, you have to be smart about how you spend money,” Kaine said. “This is one of the smartest ways I can think of.”
Kaine estimated during his 2005 campaign that universal prekindergarten would cost about $300 million when fully implemented, but he is proposing to expand the program in stages.
Full text available at the Washington Examiner
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FL - Go online to get child-care ratings
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Monday, May 21 @ 13:33:56 EDT by kkurth
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Parents of 4-year-olds are encouraged to go online to check how child-care centers performed on a new state measure.
Each center that participated in the state-sponsored pre-kindergarten program was judged based on how their students from the 2005-06 year scored on screenings given in the children's first month of kindergarten.
In Broward County, more than 93 percent of preschools in the pre-K program received at least 200 points on the state's 300-point scale. Statewide, about 85 percent of the child-care centers did.
"The more time children spend in a quality [pre-K] program, the better prepared they are for kindergarten," said state Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg.
Parents may go to www.vpk.fldoe.org to sort through scores for participating child-care centers.
Preschools earned a "readiness rate" based on how former students performed on a three-part screening measure that judged their ability to quickly identify letters, to recognize sounds, and on their social skills and behavior.
The highest rate a child-care center could receive is 300, or 100 percent for each of the three screening tools.
Several Broward preschools, such as Baby Boomers Child Care Center in Pompano Beach, earned perfect scores.
Full text available at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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FL - Web site rates pre-K programs
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Wednesday, May 16 @ 13:14:49 EDT by kkurth
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Parents of 4-year-olds are encouraged to go online to check how child-care centers performed on a new state measure.
Each center that participated in the state-sponsored pre-kindergarten program was judged based on how its students from the 2005-06 year scored on screenings given in the children's first month of kindergarten.
In Palm Beach County, about 88 percent of preschools in the pre-K program received at least 200 points on the state's 300-point scale. Statewide, about 85 percent of the child-care centers hit the 200 mark.
"We're definitely pleased we're above the state average," said Warren Eldridge, executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County, which oversees pre-K.
Parents may visit www.vpk.fldoe.org to sort through scores for participating child-care centers.
Preschools earned a "readiness rate" based on how former students performed on a three-part screening measure that judged their ability to quickly identify letters, to recognize sounds and on their social skills and behavior.
Several Palm Beach County preschools, such as A Boca Raton Montessori School and the Torah Tots Academy in Boca Raton, earned perfect scores.
Eldridge said the scores on the state scale tended to fall along socioeconomic lines, with the wealthy areas of Boca Raton, Lake Park, Palm Beach Gardens and Loxahatchee achieving the highest. The areas where students scored lower included poorer areas such as Belle Glade, Lake Worth, Pahokee, and Riviera Beach, he said.
"It just shows we need to make sure we really focus our efforts in the areas that have the greater needs," said Eldridge, referring to family outreach efforts led by the Children's Service Council.
Early childhood experts have criticized the state's ratings. It would be more useful if students were measured at the start of pre-K and again at the end, instead of taking a snapshot of how they perform at the start of kindergarten, experts say.
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CA - Full-time preschool catching on
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Monday, April 23 @ 11:56:32 EDT by kkurth
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The expansion of a full-day preschool program is the latest example of the growing support for early childhood education.
Since January, the Options-Rorimer Preschool in La Puente has operated a full-day, five-days-a-week preschool for 15 students.
Funding by the California Department of Education and the Los Angeles Universal Preschool program has allowed for an additional nine children a chance to attend a 11.5-hour school day, learning shapes, colors, numbers and building social skills, said school officials.
Cliff Marcussen, executive director and founder of Options, said the agency has operated similar full-day programs throughout the San Gabriel Valley for 12 years. Options programs are available in Covina, Manzanita and Hurley elementary schools.
Marcussen said having full-day preschool targeting low-income families is important.
"It gives parents a place that can care for and educate their children during the hours they work," he said.
Giving young children access to education at an earlier age is an area of growing focus with preschool a part of the solution.
Studies on the effect of half-day versus full-day programs show that students who attended a full-day program performed better on math and literacy tests, including picture vocabulary and letter-word identification.
Ellen Frede, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, which conducted one of those studies, said that the full-day program also allowed for teachers to build relationships with their students and even used snack time as a learning activity.
Enrolling a child in preschool in the U.S. is voluntary, and 40 states have state-sponsored Pre-K programs that enroll 4-year-old children.
Illinois, Oklahoma and Georgia allow 3-year-olds to attend preschool, said Don Owens, spokesman for the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Owens compares the preschool system in the U.S. to a patchwork quilt - instead of a single system, states, churches and Head Start centers can all run preschool programs.
While full-day programs may attract more students because it helps parents with day care options, educators and early childhood advocates say that curriculum and teaching is what matters.
Full text available at the SGV Tribune
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FL - Need preschool? Drop your kids at high school
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Monday, April 16 @ 11:23:46 EDT by kkurth
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Throughout the halls of Lake Brantley High School, the noise of teenage banter and slamming locker doors prevails.
But behind one door, a different sound emanates -- the screeches and laughter of small children.
The 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds are on campus as a part of Seminole County Public Schools' Early Childhood Education program.
For about $1.80 an hour, parents hand their little ones over to be taught by high-school students.
On a typical day, the preschoolers are ushered from one learning station to another within an area of the school that has been converted into a preschool center. They learn letters, perform science projects, do simple math, color, play games outside -- all under the supervision of students in Lake Brantley's Tech Prep program.
In one area, Shayna Thompson cheers on 3-year-old Will Parnell as he writes the word visor.
"Give me a high-five," she says, slipping a plastic visor onto his head.
Lake Brantley's program has 19 preschoolers and about 60 teens, so the student-teacher ratio is higher than at most day-care centers.
"Parents who make the choice to send their kids here believe in teenagers," said teacher Charlotte Tadd. "And these are good teenagers."
One of those parents is Beth Klingenberg, who enrolled her twin girls, Emily and Ashley.
"We'd been to other preschools, and the girls were clinging to me the whole time," she said. "This was the only place where my kids separated from me and didn't want to leave."
Lake Brantley's is one of six Early Childhood Education programs in the school district providing developmentally appropriate activities for preschoolers and a solid foundation in child development for high-school students by allowing them to put into action principles they learn in the classroom.
The smallest program is at Lake Mary High, where 18 student teachers care for four youngsters.
Full text available at the Orlando Sentinel
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FL - Crist joins effort to boost pre-K teacher standards
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Tuesday, April 10 @ 12:39:19 EDT by kkurth
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Gov. Charlie Crist threw his support Monday behind a proposal to require that lead teachers in Florida's voluntary prekindergarten program have four-year college degrees.
Crist said he planned to speak with legislative leaders about degree requirement bills that are stalled in both chambers.
"Education is an equal opportunity provider," Crist said at a news conference. "It can only be that if it is a quality education."
Crist joined Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and leaders of Children's Campaign to urge passage of legislation (HB 1103, SB 2506) that has yet to receive a committee hearing in either the House or Senate.
The identical bills would require each prekindergarten class to have at least one teacher with a bachelor's degree in early childhood education or childhood development as of the 2013-14 school year.
Lawmakers have questioned the cost, but Sink cited a study by TaxWatch, a business-backed budget watchdog group, that estimated the state would save $7 in school remediation, welfare and prison expenses for every $1 spent on early learning.
"Some may ask how we can afford to provide higher quality pre-K for every child, and I ask, as your chief financial officer, how we can not?" Sink said.
Children's Campaign president Roy Miller said the legislation cost the state nothing until the 2013-14. It then would add an estimated $9 per day to the $14.50 the state now pays for each prekindergarten pupil, he said.
Full text available at the Bradenton Herald
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FL - How does pre-K stack up?
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Tuesday, February 20 @ 11:41:01 EST by emohan
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When school started in August, more Florida kindergartners were prepared to tackle reading than had been ready in previous years, the state's annual early-literacy screening shows.
That makes educators hopeful that the state's new pre-kindergarten program is making a difference. Although they cannot tie the better scores directly to the program, they think more preschool teachers now understand the need to expose youngsters to the ABCs and other building blocks of literacy.
There is "more universal awareness of the skills the children need as they enter kindergarten," said Shan Goff, director of the Florida Department of Education's Office of Early Learning.
Despite the better showing this year, more than 36 percent of the current crop of kindergartners still faltered on at least one of the two literacy tests given.
About 18 percent of them scored very poorly, indicating they were at "high risk" for reading struggles if they did not get "substantial intervention." Two years ago, 22 percent were at "high risk," and last year 20 percent were.
The state screened 198,440 kindergarten students in the first weeks of classes, finding that more than 63 percent were ready on both tests, up from 60 percent last year.
'He knows a lot of stuff'
The results are to be used both by classroom teachers to help their struggling students and, in a more controversial move, by state officials to judge the state-funded pre-K programs some of those youngsters attended.
The state's pre-K program served 105,896 children last year, or about 48 percent of the eligible youngsters.
Full text available at the Orlando Sentinel
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IA - Opinion: Pave way for preschool for all Iowa children
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Wednesday, January 03 @ 09:29:26 EST by emohan
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By now, it's widely understood that preschool improves a child's odds of future academic success. Research on early brain development and long-term studies of children who attended preschool prove it.
Not so well understood are all the obstacles that keep children from attending preschool.
It's not only the cost of hiring well-prepared teachers or the lack of space for preschool in some school districts.
As an article last week by Register reporter Megan Hawkins pointed out, it's also that many parents need "wraparound" child care along with preschool.
The state and communities need to make the availability of on-site child care before and after preschool a priority, too. Here's why:
Preschool typically lasts a couple of hours in the morning. Most parents can't leave their jobs in the middle of the day to run children to a child-care center or the baby sitter's, and arranging for someone else to do it can be too expensive.
So some kids can't attend preschool, even if there's room.
Let's stop treating preschool as a frill.
It's fundamental, which means that Iowa should pay for it on a per-pupil basis, just as it does for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
The Iowa Department of Education proposes spending $3,000 per child for all 4-year-olds whose parents choose to enroll them in a preschool program that meets high standards. That would cover 10 hours of instruction a week with a licensed teacher as well as materials and transportation. Universal preschool would be phased in over four years, starting with spending an additional $15 million next school year to expand access to 4,800 more 4-year-olds. In four years, the total cost would be $75 million annually, assuming 90 percent of 4-year-olds participate. The price tag also assumes some children will continue to be covered by other programs, such as Head Start, and that some children won't participate.
The Legislature should move quickly to pass the legislation, and communities should start working on how to provide convenient before- and after-preschool care that charges a sliding-scale fee based on income.
Full text available at the Des Moines Register
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CT - Region Hopes To Take Advantage of State's Preschool Initiatives
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Tuesday, December 19 @ 09:48:12 EST by emohan
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When he was sworn in as the New London school board's newest president two weeks ago, Alvin Kinsall proclaimed that the school district will work hard to make sure all students are “ready by 5 and fine by 9.”
In saying that, Kinsall was echoing a new slogan of the state Department of Education as well as the title of a report released in October by The Connecticut Early Childhood cabinet.
The motto sums up a far-reaching plan to prepare students for kindergarten (ready by 5) and for their first round of standardized tests in third grade (fine by 9). Earlier this month, a subgroup of the cabinet created by Gov. M. Jodi Rell recommended spending more than $102 million in state funds over the next two years to boost early childhood education, especially for children in the state's poorest families.
The group also recommends adding 13,000 new preschool seats in accredited programs through the 2012 budget year and more advanced training for preschool teachers, according to an Associated Press story.
“Ready By 5 & Fine By 9” lays out timelines for accomplishing a series of goals aimed at boosting and more clearly defining early childhood education. The report also includes 50 “actions” for meeting those goals, including a list of the top 10 priorities.
Topping that list, is a proposal that the state “assure fiscal support” so all 3- and 4-year-old's in the state's poorest families can attend “high quality preschool.” The state Department of Education is charged with defining the standards for preschool, which currently exists in a number of forms.
“We are 100 percent on the same wavelength with that report ... in that we feel a good investment in the long run in helping to erase the achievement gap is to provide preschool for kids,” said Christopher Clouet, New London's superintendent of schools.
New London and the state's city schools have typically performed worse on standardized tests than their wealthier, suburban counterparts. Also, the scores of minorities continue to be much lower than their white peers.
A number of studies indicate that children who do not attend preschool fall behind their classmates who have, that the gap is difficult to close and often widens. The “fine by 9” portion of the report tracks students through the third grade, the first year in which they take the Connecticut Mastery Test.
According to the “Ready by 5” report, about 75 percent of the state's 4-year-olds attend a formal preschool setting. But in the state's seven poorest communities, a list that includes New London, the figure dropped to about half of the 4-year-old's. That percentage combines the results of the seven communities.
Regionally, according to information in each district's Strategic School Profiles, the breakout for city schools includes: in Groton, about 64 percent of kindergartners have attended some form of preschool; in New London, 63 percent; and in Norwich, almost 75 percent.
Full text available at The Day
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VA - Kaine highlights need for investing in young students
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Thursday, November 09 @ 16:49:43 EST by emohan
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Gov. Tim Kaine (D) called for increased emphasis on early learning and trumpeted his administration's achievements on education during a State of Education address in McLean last week.
"Ninety percent of our brain is developed by the age of 5, yet our education system really doesn't begin until after that," Kaine said at a luncheon gala hosted by the Fairfax Education Foundation, which has become a traditional fall stop for Virginia governors.
As he said in his campaign for office one year ago, the governor said he hopes to change the focus of education in Virginia.
His Start Strong pre-K program established a council to expand successful preschool programs with the goal of making them available to all parents in the state.
The council will gather information from the public and work with existing early education programs like Head Start, the Virginia Preschool Initiative and private preschools to create local programs all over Virginia.
"This is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Start Strong programs will be locally driven and designed to meet local needs," Kaine said.
According to the governor, Virginia spends $80 million a year on students repeating the grades between kindergarten and third grade.
"By cutting in half the number of children who have to repeat a grade, we could double what we spend on existing pre-K programs," he said.
Kaine noted the state has already increased its preschool spending by $10 million to better help at-risk 4-year-olds.
Along with an emphasis on general improvements to Virginia's preschool programs, the governor called for particular attention to the results of third-grade reading tests under the Virginia Standards of Learning. Kaine expressed strong support for the SOLs but said students failing the third grade reading exam have trouble later in their academic careers.
"Half of those students go on to fail the reading SOL exam again in the fifth grade. And often the achievement gaps we see later in a child's life in the SATs and other exams are simply a continuation of this problem," Kaine said.
According to the governor, 16 percent of Virginia's third-graders failed the SOL reading test this year, a number Kaine pledged to reduce to 10 percent by 2010.
Full text available at the Times Community News
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VT - More schools offering preschool programs
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Tuesday, October 17 @ 09:27:43 EDT by emohan
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Shortly after 8 a.m. on a recent weekday morning, 3-year-old Emma Kelley walked into her preschool room at Orchard Elementary School in South Burlington alongside her mother. Tricia Kelley smiled as Emma looked at a table bearing nametags for each student in the class, recognized her name and plucked up the appropriate tag.
As Emma scampered off to play with her friends, her mother praised the preschool program, which opened last year and already has a waiting list. "It's wonderful, wonderful," Kelley said. "She has grown so much in just two months. ... We're thrilled."
The new preschool slots at Orchard are partially underwritten with public money in an arrangement that some advocates for young children would like to see expand in Vermont. They argue that making preschool more available and affordable to Vermont children will boost academic performance, improve child well-being and help families struggling to pay for quality programs.
"This is a place where the public can make an investment, and we should be making an investment in our children," said Barbara Postman, policy coordinator for the Vermont Children's Forum in Montpelier. "We have to support our young children."
Opponents of increased government funding for preschool say the benefits fade as children hit third or fourth grade and that Vermont, one of the top spenders in the nation when it comes to kindergarten through 12th-grade education, can't afford to add on two new grades.
Some critics say Vermont's system, which allows schools to partner with private preschool providers on or off-site, should not continue.
"There is no accountability in the system as it is now; there is no regulation; there is no oversight. It's a mess," said Rob Roper, state director for Freedom Works Vermont and editor of Vermonters for Better Education, which advocates for school choice.
Vermont's publicly funded preschool programs are slowly growing. For years such programs were largely limited to youngsters who have disabilities, live in poverty or qualify as English language learners. Many of these programs, such as Head Start, are federally funded.
During the past four years, however, some public school districts have broadened their programs beyond at-risk children. The state has allowed schools to tap into education funds to cover up to 10 hours of preschool education per student per week. School districts are allowed to offer the services themselves or contract with private providers.
Just how much state and federal money is spent on preschool programs in Vermont is unclear. Rep. Duncan Kilmartin, R-Newport, chairman of the Legislative Committee on Prekindergarten Education, likened the various state and federally funded programs to a "crazy quilt" and said it was difficult to get a handle on annual spending.
"I think we may be between $50 million and $70 million when you consider the bigger picture of child development experiences," Kilmartin said.
The Legislature created his committee this year to study publicly funded preschool after a bill that would have likely increased spending failed to pass. Kilmartin is skeptical about expanded funding.
Full text available at the Burlington Free Press
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TN - Schools move pre-K classes closer to home
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Tuesday, October 10 @ 12:15:42 EDT by emohan
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Area parents are finding more options for pre-kindergarten classes closer to home as more school systems look outside their own buildings for space to educate Tennessee's youngest learners.
At least 38 of the 230 new pre-K classrooms funded by $20 million in state expansion money this year are located off school campuses in Head Start facilities, children's homes and child-care centers — some of which are in or near public housing developments. Last year, the state program's first, 30 new pre-K classes opened outside schools.
This year, Metro Nashville, the Franklin Special School District and Montgomery County received state funding for new pre-K classrooms outside schools for the first time.
The state has encouraged collaboration with child-care providers for several reasons: It helps free up school space, gives parents the option of putting their children in schools where older children aren't around, and creates more pre-K opportunities in low-income areas.
"The biggest plus is that you can actually serve a community where the biggest need is," said Bobbi Lussier, executive director of the state's Office of Early Learning.
Lakisa Kelly's son Clyde Williams, 4, attends one of the new classes, housed at McNeilly Center for Children in east Nashville.
A year ago, Clyde attended day care there. Kelly said she'd enrolled him in a different program for kids his age but wasn't happy with the teachers. So she brought him back to McNeilly.
“It’s convenient,” she said. “I just live right down the street.”
Full text available at the Tennessean
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CO - Big donors back preschool tax
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Tuesday, October 03 @ 16:25:32 EDT by emohan
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Supporters of a sales tax to pay for early-childhood education programs in Denver have raised nearly $1 million, mostly in large chunks from businesses and the area's heavy-hitting philanthropists.
That figure is nearly four times the amount raised for a similar measure that failed in 2000, and officials said they expect to raise much more in the weeks before the Nov. 7 election.
Contributions to the "Preschool Matters" campaign - a push led by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper - total more than $995,000. The group has received 26 cash or in-kind contributions of at least $5,000 from 162 individual donors, according to campaign finance records filed Monday.
No group has filed paperwork opposing issue 1A on the November ballot. If passed, it would increase Denver's sales-tax rate to 7.72 percent.
Preschool Matters treasurer Lynea Hansen said the campaign hopes to raise close to $1.5 million.
"I think our donor base is really diverse," she said.
The tax - 12 cents on every $100 purchase - is expected to raise $12 million annually. It would fund child-care tuition credits for families of 4-year-olds and would provide money to improve preschool programs.
Credits would be distributed based on need and the quality of the preschool program selected.
Similar measures failed in 2000 and 2001.
Full text available at the Denver Post
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FL - Stalled state money finally reaches child-care centers for pre-K program
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Wednesday, September 27 @ 15:22:34 EDT by emohan
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More than 350 Broward County child-care centers that participate in the state-sponsored pre-kindergarten program got paid Tuesday -- finally.
After weeks of waiting -- some pre-K centers said up to six weeks -- the local nonprofit that runs the program received money from the state Tuesday and directly deposited funds or mailed checks to local providers, said Penny Westberry, executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Broward.
Florida's voluntary pre-K program is a voter-mandated effort that first enrolled students in 2005 and is meant to give children an early start to their education. In Broward, the program depends almost exclusively on private child-care centers because there aren't enough public classrooms to teach the 8,600 4-year-olds enrolled this school year.
"Most of us are mom-and-pop operations," said Alan Fyne, of Vista Early Childhood Center in Coral Springs. "You can't go to the bank and say: `I'm sorry. I can't pay my mortgage because the state doesn't know when it's going to pay us.'"
Fyne said he's had to borrow money to keep the lights on and rent paid because of delays in receiving the state contribution. About 80 percent of his revenue comes from state dollars, he said.
A change in the state's accounting system this school year stalled payments to Broward's centers. The schools are paid based on enrollment figures. July reimbursements didn't come until early September, and the money paid Tuesday was for August. Last year, payday came like clockwork: The 20th of each month.
Previously, the Early Learning Coalition would receive a lump sum from the state in advance, and then pay local day care providers for pre-K services. The state has since eliminated the advance payments. Now, providers must first turn in enrollment figures to the coalition, to be passed on to the state, before receiving reimbursement money from the state through the coalition. "We don't have a firm date from the state when they pay," Westberry said. She said the holdup was caused by a "glitch in the system" that she has been assured won't be repeated.
Full text available at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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