Issue Position: Start Strong Initiative
Issue Position
Issue Position: Start Strong Initiative
On December 17, 2007, in his speech to the Joint Money Committees, Governor Kaine announced details of his pre-kindergarten, unveiling a voluntary program that gradually will expand access to high-quality preschool for more of Virginia's four-year-olds. The expansion will build on the existing network of public and private providers, removing barriers to access such as geography and family income, serving an additional 7,000 at-risk four-year-olds by the end of the biennium. The full program will be phased-in over the next two budget cycles, eventually reaching 30,000 of Virginia's at-risk four-year-olds through the Virginia Preschool Initiative, to better prepare them for learning.
The Governor's proposal builds a flexible network of high-quality preschool providers, including public schools, private centers, Head Start programs, and faith-based facilities. By the year 2012, up to 67% of Virginia's four-year-olds could be enrolled in a high-quality preschool setting. It will cost approximately $140 million annually at full implementation, approximately $90 million more than the $50 million the state currently spends each year on programs for at-risk four-year-olds.
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Start Strong Council
In one of his first official acts, Governor Kaine created the Start Strong Council to develop expanded access to quality pre-kindergarten for Virginia's four-year-olds.
Council members include legislators, representatives from the public school system, private providers of early childhood education programs, elected local government officials, community and business leaders, and parents.
The Governor's charge to the Council was to develop recommendations for cultivating public-private partnership to provide for preschool service delivery in both public schools and private community settings; and to recommend strategies for governance to be shared across state and local lines through local councils made up of key child-serving agencies and organizations in each region or locality.
In July, 2007, the Council completed its intensive study of preschool opportunities for Virginia and presented six key recommendations to Governor Kaine.
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