• $700,000 was included in the RI Department of Education's budget to support the Pre-K Demonstration Project. RIDE is now reviewing the applications submitted by interested organizations to open Pre-K Demonstration classrooms.
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• $100,000 was included in the RIDE's budget to support the Extended Learning Time Initiative.
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• $800,000 in state funding was preserved for Head Start slots (approximately 112 slots). This is a reduction of $200,000 in state funding. Head Start agencies in Rhode Island will also receive $2 million in federal ARRA stimulus funding to be used for increased operating expenses, quality improvement efforts, and increased staff compensation. Also, some federal Head Start expansion funding is available nationally to existing Head Start agencies to expand. We are hoping that Rhode Island will see at least one additional Head Start classroom be supported with these federal expansion funds, which will offset the loss of state funding.

In other news:

• At this date it is not clear how much of the $4.5 million in non-targeted child care ARRA stimulus funding will be available to improve access to child care subsidies for additional low income families. It is believed that the majority has been set aside to maintain current eligibility for child care at 180% of the federal poverty guidelines due to the increased need for TANF funding for cash assistance (TANF is a major funder of child care subsidies). The $680,000 in child care stimulus funding that is required to be targeted for quality has been preserved. Among the uses of this funding that have been discussed to date are establishing the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Scholarship Program and providing financial incentives and program improvement supports to programs participating in BrightStars.
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• Article 26 from the Governor's Budget was not included in the final budget. Article 26 would have allowed the Department of Human Services to make changes in the way it sets rates for child care providers serving children in the Child Care Assistance Program. Debate about Article 26 indicated that it was designed to enable the state to cut rates for family child care providers in order to increase rates for center-based providers. Although this was a budget neutral proposal, it would have had far reaching consequences for the early childhood field in de-coupling rates from the market rate survey. Rhode Island KIDS COUNT and RIAEYC opposed this Article, but recommended the state consider the practice of 29 other states in providing financial incentives and support for all programs to improve quality.

The successes noted above have been thanks to the hard work of many advocates for early care and education. The fact that we could secure these relatively small, but important wins for young children and families during this tough budget year was critical.