A new report providing an update on the County’s Early Childhood Education efforts is now available on MeckNC.gov.
The “Implementation Progress Report: Mecklenburg County Action Plan for Early Childhood Education, 2019 Update,” released by the Mecklenburg County Early Childhood Executive Committee (ECEC), charts progress made on each of the recommendations contained in a 5-point plan presented to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) in September 2017. Following those recommendations, as part of the FY19 County budget, commissioners approved $6 million in funding for child care subsidy to reduce the child care subsidy waiting list and $9 million for public pre-k. These efforts have helped expand access to public pre-k for about 600 children in 33 MECK Pre-K classrooms located throughout child care centers in the County.
The implementation progress report recommends increasing child care assistance for low-wage working families and expanding MECK Pre-K classrooms to enroll another 640 children in the 2019-2020 school year.
“The early education efforts are tied to expanding economic opportunity for all children, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or income,” said County Manager Dena R. Diorio. “Both access to public pre-k and high-quality child care helps ensure that our children will enter school ready to succeed.”
The report recommends:
- Continued work by the ECEC to monitor and advise County leadership with regard to implementation of MECK Pre-K and exploring ways to ensure a coordinated system of support to reach a greater percentage of young children.
- A focused review of key factors that lead to healthy development and early learning for children birth through age three, including specific strategies to promote healthy brain development, resiliency, strong social and emotional skills, and language and literacy development.
- Review of a specific funding strategy to create an Early Childhood Investment Fund, a public-private partnership, so that promising strategies to reach children in their earliest years can be expanded or developed.
The BOCC launched the early childhood initiative in 2016 aligned with the adoption of a resolution supporting early childhood education for all children from birth to age five and funding from the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council for a two-phased review and implementation plan.
Links
Executive Summary
Full Report