🚨 🚨 Vermont’s state legislature took BIG action for young children and families this week - passing a $120M (annual) package of reforms that leapfrog the state to the forefront of the nation’s early childhood debate. What exactly will the bill do? Let’s unpack it below. ⬇️ 🧵 ADVANCES THE STATE TOWARD UNIVERSAL PREKINDERGARTEN FOR 3- and 4-YEAR-OLDS. The bill creates a committee that will develop a pre-k implementation plan, with the intent of providing service to all 3- and 4-year-olds by July 1, 2026. The bill contemplates a model under which… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

🚨 🚨 Major child care news from Vermont today as lawmakers are poised to approve a state investment in child care that will exceed - on a per capita basis -even New Mexico’s much-publicized 2022 constitutional amendment. 🧵👇 Thursday night, VT House and Senate leaders reached a deal to expand the state’s child care investment by more than $120 million annually - some 80% the $150 million estimated by NM’s recent amendment - despite a population only 30% as large.

As the number of available jobs continues to grow, the number of Americans actually looking for work dropped by 186,000 in November - a third straight month of declines. Some are retiring. Some are sick. But for many the reason is more fundamental: They can’t find child care. 🧵 With skyrocketing demand you’d think that the child care market would be expanding like crazy. Instead even existing classrooms are sitting vacant.

This headline from The Onion might give you a chuckle… but the truth is that millions of children actually do fall behind by age 4. Not as elite athletes - but experientially and developmentally, during the years most critical to their long term academic & life success.🧵 That achievement gap that we’re persistently trying to close in our schools? It’s already well established when children enter kindergarten - created by opportunity gaps during the years of #earlychildhood.

This Thanksgiving I am grateful for those who sacrifice for the well-being of America’s young children. 🧵 Those whose career opportunities and incomes decline as a result of the “motherhood penalty…” cnbc.com/2019/10/16/wom…

During our @NAEYC session this week, I made a point about the nation’s child care crisis using a famous (mis)quote from the movie Field of Dreams - which holds an important lesson for policymakers:

“If you build it, they will come.” 🧵 I thought it might be worthwhile to unpack it here as well.

On Tuesday New Mexico voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment creating dedicated funding for early childhood education. Here’s why it matters, regardless of where you live. 🧵 First some quick background. The amendment allows for a supplemental allocation of 1.25% annually from the state’s Land Grant Permanent Fund, which is derived primarily from the oil and gas revenues. Lots of background here: ballotpedia.org/New_Mexico_Con…

While you’re tracking the election results, be aware that preschoolers are also learning about the democratic process this week. The results? In Lowell, MA costume day crushed pajama day in a landslide. 🧵 wcvb.com/article/lowell… In Maine, chocolate Teddy Grahams took 53% of the vote, beating out both the honey and chocolate chip varieties. wabi.tv/2022/11/08/ham…

If your state is looking to improve the lives of children & strengthen its #earlychildhood systems, the question to ask is: How do we compare to New Mexico? Below I’ll unpack just a few of the recent reforms that have catapulted the state to model status. 🧵 Because this is a story about change, it’s important to begin with a little context about the very real needs driving action. New Mexico has been persistently challenged on measures of child wellbeing, ranked 50th in the nation by @aecfkidscount as recently as this year.

Important public policy isn’t always headline grabbing. Often dry-sounding bureaucratic reforms go a long way toward making life better for children & families. So today let’s unpack 3 recent system wins for young children that your state might be wise to consider: 🧵 We’ll begin in Oregon, where this week the federal government signed off on a groundbreaking pilot program to change to Medicaid eligibility for young children. To help put it in context, here’s a little background…

Something very important has happened this afternoon on the #ChildCare policy front that’s worth pausing to note - because it could be a sign of things to come. THREAD On March 29, Rhode Island’s @GovRaimondo tweeted that she was suspending all of the state’s #childcare licenses for a one week period, and would continue to reassess week to week. This included those centers preparing to provide care to essential staff.

Have to say, this has been a fascinating exercise. What do we know of #childcare right now? THREAD

https://twitter.com/danwuori/status/1242981884289781765

First, all states are taking action. The continuum spans from guidance about hand washing and excluding children and staff with fevers (in the least infected states) to full on closures.