by Alicia Freese vtdigger.org At the Governor’s Early Childhood Summit last Tuesday, Governor Peter Shumlin said that Vermont’s economic future hinges on improving early education in the state. Shumlin called for the summit during his second inaugural speech in January.
Gov. Peter Shumlin speaks at the Governor’s Early Childhood Summit on Tuesday at the Capital Plaza in Montpelier. Photo by Alicia Freese/VTDigger
His goal, the governor told the group of about 250 policymakers, philanthropists, educators, advocates, parents and business leaders at the Capital Plaza Hotel in Montpelier, is ‘to make Vermont the first state where early childhood education, zero to first grade, or zero on up, is as important or more important than the rest of the education experience.’
Shumlin said the state can reduce costs in corrections, health care and other arenas by doing so, but the public still needs convincing that a large investment in early education is warranted.
The governor compared the task to getting Vermont’s residents to warm first to the idea of civil unions and later to same sex marriage. ‘The difference between the constituencies is we’ve got a lot more people with kids than we did folks who want to marry someone they weren’t able to marry before,’ he said.
‘If everyone can bring 10 of their neighbors, friends, colleagues to this discussion,’ he said, ‘we can move this thing faster than marriage equality. We can move it faster than many other issues that have come before us.’
Last spring, Shumlin and Human Services Secretary Doug Racine unsuccessfully peddled a proposal to invest $16.7 million in the state’s child care subsidy program. The money would have come from a reduction in the state’s earned income tax credit (EITC).
While some early educators stood behind the plan, other advocates and many lawmakers argued that child care funding shouldn’t be increased at the expense of a successful program that benefits low-income working families.
‘What we learned from last year,’ Shumlin said, ‘is we’ve got a lot more work to do ‘ and we can get it done ‘ so we can make this state the universal education state, zero to life.’
He described the summit participants’ charge as coming up with ‘a plan that we can sell, that we can encourage other Vermonters to embrace.’
Participants in the Governor’s Early Childhood Summit listen to Gov. Peter Shumlin speech. They were charged with drafting a ‘statewide action plan’ to expand early education in Vermont. Photo by Alicia Freese/VTDigger
During a question and answer session after his speech, an audience member offered Shumlin a ‘tip,’ telling him, ‘you could go a long way with universal pre-K.’ In response, Shumlin assured the group that a bill to expand pre-K access, which passed in the House but foundered in the Senate last session, would make it through both chambers next year.
The summit participants spent the day finalizing a set of shared goals and starting to draft a ‘statewide action plan’ to expand early education in Vermont.
The group’s goals, collectively referred to as the ‘Early Childhood Framework’ are broadly defined. One is to better integrate health services into early education programs; another is to engage families and communities.
Racine said he hopes the gathering gives him specific ideas he can act on. But, he said, it’s unlikely the governor will proffer another sweeping child care proposal next legislative session.
‘To go out and find a pot of money of $15 or $20 million out of existing revenues isn’t going to happen this year,’ Racine said. ‘I would like to and I know he [Shumlin] would like to,’ he continued. ‘We need to figure out how we are going to do it and we aren’t there yet. Right now it’s more of a wish than a developing proposal.’
The main purpose of the summit, according to Racine, was getting people on the same page.
‘The point was to try to get some consensus from people who are all involved but do different things,’ Racine said. ‘And getting that consensus is an important step. It makes people feel like they’re a part of a bigger whole.’