Gov. Ned Lamont signs legislation on early childhood education and child care

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Governor Ned Lamont hosted a bill signing ceremony for two pieces of legislation that will help make early childhood education and child care more affordable and accessible.

The bill signing took place at the Friends Center for Children Tuesday morning. The legislation consolidates the state’s three existing early childhood programs: School Readiness, State Head Start Supplement and Child Day Care.

All three will now become a single program known as “Early Start CT,” which is designed to reduce unnecessary red tape, improve child care accessibility, and reduce the burden on providers.

“Our state-funded programs had been very complex for parents to navigate, but now it will just be one program, Early Start CT, and we know Head Start makes a huge difference for kids when they arrive at school,” said Beth Bye, Office of Early Childhood Commissioner.

Allyx Schiavone, the head of Friends Center for Children in New Haven, said three programs created mountains of paperwork. With just one, the process is easier.

“It allows us to direct resources to where they should be instead of administrator tasks,” she said. “We can now put them into the classroom and to the children that we serve.”

The legislation will also expand Connecticut’s Care-4-Kids program, which helps low to moderate-income families pay for child care. Bye said the expansion helps 6,200 more families out.

Lamont recently spoke with News 8 about the issue and how money is needed to address concerns.

“It’s the one thing, I think, everybody agrees upon – what it means for a start for kids in education, what it means for businesses and help people get back to work. There’s a broad support in the legislature, certainly with me, and I think in Washington as well,” Lamont said.

Child care incubators were also expanded under the new law. Seven cities were in a pilot program where aspiring child care providers could run a day care and gain capital before being on their own. The law now allows a total of 20 incubators to open in any part of the state.

But building a strong workforce remains a challenge. The new law shortens the certification process for teachers and provides a one-time payment of $1,800 to teachers this year, but Schiavone believes wages are still too low. She said they are struggling to hire 13 more teachers for their newest location set to open in October.

“The reason why we are short staffed is that it is really hard for people to make the decision to move into this field when you are going to make poverty-level wages,” she said.

The Office of Early Childhood will operate and administer Early Start CT starting July 1.

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