Check out today’s Boston Globe. Grade 3 students lagging on reading is an advance on the report — “Turning the Page: Refocusing Massachusetts for Reading Success†– that we are releasing at the Boston Public Library this morning at 10 a.m. Check back here this afternoon for news about the event and a link to the report. A front page story in today’s Globe,  Asking more of preschool, reports on the growing interest in increasing the education and training of early educators, a topic that I will write more about next week.
In other news, the state’s fiscal year 2011 (FY11) budget headed this week to a conference committee that will reconcile the differences between the budgets passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives in April and the Massachusetts Senate last Friday. The House conferees are: Representatives Charles Murphy, Barbara L’Italien and Robert Hargreaves. The Senate conferees are: Senators Steven Panagiotakos, Stephen Brewer and Michael Knapik. The new fiscal year begins July 1. Both budgets maintain funding for the Universal Pre-Kindergarten grant program at $8 million. Click here for information on other line items related to high-quality early education and care. And stay tuned for more information as the budget process continues.
It is only fair that we push our community and state to make the right decisions for young children. Too many children are falling though the cracks of our education system. Until we make a serious commitment to early education is when we can shape the future of every child. Research proves it and from personal experience my children are testimony to how amazing early education is.
Let’s continue to make it known and push for early education for all children is the right commitment.