Lawmakers Ready New Rules for Expanding Preschool
By Amy Lambiaso for the State House News Service
3-17-2005

       Lawmakers on Wednesday advanced legislation they say sets the foundation for the state to expand its preschool services to reach every child in the state.
       Meeting for the first time this session, members of the Education Committee approved recommendations that set standards for the new Department of Early Education and Care, transfer all current budgetary spending to the new department, and would remove the newly-appointed chairman of the Early Education and Care Board from his position.
       The legislation, required under last year’s law that established the new department, will take the traditional route and be the subject of a public hearing but members anticipate it will become part of the new state budget.
       Committee co-Chairman Sen. Robert Antonioni (D-Leominster) said today’s approval represented the “first stage in deliberations” for the
legislation, and expects members to change its content along the way.
       Early education advocates have said creating universal early education will eventually require more than $1 billion. And while this legislation transfers appropriate spending items from the Office of Child Care Services and the Department of Education to the new department, it does not authorize any new spending.
       “You can throw money at anything,” said Rep. Patricia Haddad (D-Somerset), co-chairman of the committee. “We’re laying a foundation here, but we need to allow it to develop.”
       Appointed by Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday, the nine-member Early Education and Care Board is chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Ronald Preston, and must select a commissioner for the new department by April 1.
       But language adopted by the committee today would not allow any ex-officio member of the board, or any other state agency employee to serve as chairman, effectively ousting Preston from the post.
Haddad said the intent of that move is to create a completely independent
board without a chairman that has other obligations that could supercede
that of the new department.
       “If all we do is have turf battles from here on forward, all we’re going to do is move backwards,” said Rep. Alice Wolf (D-Cambridge). The language was adopted unanimously by the committee.
       The legislation also creates an Advisory Council on Early Education and Care to advise the commissioner and the board on policy measures and on curriculum. It also sets up a special legislative commission to study and make recommendations on after-school programs offered by the department.
       As a step toward reaching lawmaker’s ultimate goal, the legislation gives the board “authority to revise eligibility standards over time to insure that the program becomes universally accessible.” Lawmakers are also eyeing expanded services for children from birth to 5 years old. Current provisions only serve children ages 3 to 5. “It’s still on the radar
screen,” Antonioni said.