Is investing in early learning and development a bipartisan issue? Yes, according to a recent post by Eye on Early Education: Governors Across America Talk About Early Childhood Education. The First Five Years Fund (FFYF) reports, “According to the Education Commission of the States, for the 2014-15 fiscal year, state funding for pre-K...
The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently released a KIDS COUNT ® Data Snapshot, Measuring Access to Opportunity in the United States, which highlights a way to better measure poverty than the traditional Federal Poverty Measure. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) takes into account more updated information about what it takes to meet...
The Governor’s 2015-17 biennial budget proposals show modest increases for child care in a very tight fiscal environment. The increases in the child care budget are noteworthy after years of budget cuts. 1. Increase in Child Care Payment Rates Continued in Wisconsin Shares Good news! The child care payment rate increases implemented in...
It is common practice in Wisconsin and around the country that youth who are in secure custody come into their court hearings in shackles of one kind or another. Almost always this is because that is how adult inmates are transported and attend hearings. Security and safety reasons are most often cited by the agencies responsible for...
By Qualifying for Increased Federal Medicaid Fund, Wisconsin Could Avoid Many Budget Cuts Two Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) papers released yesterday show that expanding BadgerCare could go a long way to helping avoid or scale back some of the deep cuts in the state budget bill. One of those memos, which was prepared for Senator Jon...
More evidence that the obesity epidemic is preventable and that we need to start early. The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) has a recent blog on this topic. Healthy preschool habits can last a lifetime It includes links to resources, a policy brief, and various studies. One item caught my eye, "Early care and...
The YoungStar Consortium (Celebrate Children Foundation, Supporting Families Together Association, and Wisconsin Early Childhood Association) produced a report last year that we have neglected to blog about. Here is a link to the full report: Moving Wisconsin Forward Lots of good info in this document. There is a timeline of progress...
At long last we can begin to see how the Governor is proposing to close the substantial deficit facing the state, including the changes in the budget for the Department of Health Services (DHS). It will take much more careful study of the various budget documents before the changes come into clearer focus, but here are a few initial...
Happy Groundhog Day! Unfortunately, just like Bill Murray's day in the movie, things seem to be repeating themselves. Child care workers continue to be at the bottom of the wage scale of the civilian workforce, earning barely more than fast food cooks, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A Child Trends Report provides...
The New Yorker magazine had a lengthy piece a few weeks ago on a novel experiment in Providence, RI. It was titled The Talking Cure: The poorer parents are, the less they talk with their children. The mayor of Providence is trying to close the “word gap.” It is well worth the read. The program is based on extensive research and is...
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