Normally during the legislative session, we find ourselves fighting for our legislators to pay attention to Early Learning. That is not the case this year. There has been more legislative activity with Florida’s Early Learning System since the inception of the School Readiness statute over a decade ago.

This legislative session began with the release of a report from the Auditor General’s report which had 32 findings and recommendations for improving Florida’s early Learning System, none of which recommended changing Florida’s current system. Many of the findings were due to human error in a very paper dependent system, and the inability for state data systems to communicate.

There are currently two bills in the Senate and four bills in the House that impact the Early Learning system. Many advocates and stakeholders have been actively involved in the legislative process to help legislators understand the impact of draft bill language. There have been many conversations about supporting quality programming for our children, conducting screening and assessments on participating children, and holding the system accountable for the state and federal dollars invested in Early Learning.

I am very proud of our local community partners and contracted providers who have stepped up to support education efforts with legislators and their staff. It is really making an impact and we are seeing positive changes in the draft legislation. Session is more than halfway over, and the clock is ticking fast… we are hopeful that whatever legislation prevails does not negatively impact our ability to serve children, their families and our contracted providers.