Comment: I found this article from Virginia while browsing the web, and my first thought was - ahhh, more government. My second thought was, is what I do only visible with the right public office serving it? I immediately connected with the pioneers and those who built without the buffers. As a grass roots person, I think the issue of early childhood education should begin at the bottom - in the home. Early childhood education begins with time sharing a child between home and school. When teachers and parents communicate, there should be little reason for government. Standards! We've tried to standardize early childhood education for years, and the only things you get are more naps and worse food.
So then I thought of myself as the "administrator" of this program and my first thought was, "run for the hills!" I thought about never being in a school again, and having to give up spending my days swimming and playing and discovering neat stuff like bugs and how marbles do this and that and paint does when you... and I thought - -na - isn't worth it - neither are the stockings and shoes. Maybe that's why we don't have this program.
From inRich.com
Panel: Pre-K should be separate
A group that advises Gov. Timothy M. Kaine about pre-kindergarten issues says Virginia needs a state-level office for its early childhood programs.
"In order for early childhood education to have a place at the table and in order for it to have visibility . . . there should be an office of early childhood education," said Judith M. Rosen, a member of the governor's Start Strong Council.
"The locals needed to have one place that they could go to, one place of communication that made sense for them."
Aspects of early childhood education currently fall to more than one state department, including the departments of education and social services. The council is recommending a separate office that does not fall under an existing agency.
"This is essentially consolidating what we have now," Rosen said. "It is not creating something from scratch."
Del. Phillip A. Hamilton, R-Newport News, is a member of the governor's panel. He ultimately joined the panel's unanimous vote approving the recommendation but expressed reservations about not housing the proposed office in an existing department.
"There's got to be somebody that legislators can call when we have complaints," he said to laughter. "Some will criticize this whole thing as an expansion of government when in reality it doesn't say a thing about expansion of government except that you don't want to [make the office part of an existing department]."
The recommended office would have a board, appointed by the governor, and an administrator.
In Washington, Libby Doggett, director of Pre-K Now, an advocacy group, said she likes the idea.
"I think it could be a good thing for Virginia because it puts a focus on young children," she said. "It would be very dependent on who is appointed to lead it."
Doggett said Tennessee's Office of Early Learning is part of the state's department of education, while three states -- Georgia, Washington and Massachusetts -- have offices that are more independent.
Creation of a state office for early education was one of six recommendations the council approved at its final meeting yesterday. They will be part of a report issued to the governor this year.
Increasing access to high-quality preschool programs has been a focus of the governor's since he was on the campaign trail. Yesterday, Kaine addressed the council briefly at the start of their meeting, saying, "I assure you that I'm going to make this my passionate priority."
He will consider their recommendations as he prepares his budget and nails down details of his pre-kindergarten initiative for legislators and the public.
Kaine left before the business of the meeting got under way but told the group, "We want to make sure that income and geography don't stand in the way of any child having access to high quality pre-k."
Contact Lindsay Kastner at (804) 649-6058 or lkastner@timesdispatch.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment