Important Message from CEO

A legislative bill has been introduced to several legislative committees in the House of Representatives that would drastically change the current delivery system for the School Readiness program. Some of the key changes are as follows:

1. Early Learning Coalitions would no longer be able to screen children for hearing, vision, and developmental delays.

1. ELIMINATION of funding for school-age children served through the low income working poor category – we could only serve children ages 0-5.

1. Quality improvement efforts would be drastically reduced, with caps on the amount of funding we can spend on quality support efforts which include grants, training, our resource rooms, etc.

1. We would no longer have the flexibility to design programs that meet the needs of our local communities – the state would have a “cookie cutter” approach to serving our children, families, and child care providers.

1. We would no longer be able to provide support services to parents including parent education, referrals for additional services, etc.

As our partners, I am committed to keeping you informed when possible changes are on the horizon. This bill is still being reviewed in the committees which means now is the time to provide input. The committee chair is asking for input by Thursday at noon to his office. His contact information is listed below. Please address your comments in response to the Early Learning Bill. To see the full draft bill, click here (pdf 247.15 kB) .

Representative Doug Holder

Capitol Office
204 House Office Building
402 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300
Phone: (850) 488-1171

Doug.holder@myfloridahouse.gov

For more information or if you would like to get involved, please call me at 264-7570 (my cell) or email me at Lfaison@elcbigbend.org.

Lauren Faison