what's new for chatham kids

The Senate HHS Appropriations Committee put forth a plan to dismantle Smart Start. They propose to:

• Eliminate NCPC, the state board and the entire state staff.
  • NCPC is the statewide organization that oversaw the innovative system that got the Duke results and did it on 3% administration with 9 straight years of clean audits
  • Require local partnerships to spend an additional $20 million on subsidy bringing the total to $72 million (from $52 million).
    • With a 20% cut, this amounts to 54% of funding.
    • Cut administrative funds in half by capping administration for local partnerships at 4%.
      • 45 partnerships (58%) would have less than $66k in administrative funding
      • 60 partnerships (78%) would have less than $100k in administrative funding (including the 45 above)
      • All of this on top of increasing the local  match requirement.

These special provisions combined with the 20% cut destroy Smart Start. They eliminate the public/private partnership; effectively cripple local partnerships ability to function; and provide very limited funding for programs for health and family support.  Meanwhile, the Senate made no changes to the House plan for MAF- which leaves our award winning pre-kindergarten program at risk as well. We owe it to our children to ensure that this does not happen.  Rally your networks and get on the phone immediately!

 Call your Senator TODAY!  Let them know:

• These changes kill Smart Start.
  • North Carolinians will not tolerate destroying years of early childhood progress that has raised third grade outcomes and given thousands of children an opportunity to succeed. 
  • These changes are unacceptable. Our children deserve better. 

 NCPC Board Chair Dr. Olson Huff put out the following statement in response to the budget:

“I fear for the well-being of the children of our state. In one fell swoop, the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee announced a plan to destroy years of early childhood progress that has raised third grade outcomes and given thousands of children an opportunity to succeed.  

In an elaborate shell game that claims savings without really doing so, the committee effectively killed the state’s nationally recognized early childhood system, Smart Start. 

Abolishing Smart Start is the wrong direction to go on education. You can’t get older children to perform in school by taking resources from younger children — at the very time that their brains are being hard-wired to learn. 

 Earlier this year a Duke University study showed that all North Carolina third-graders have higher standardized reading and math scores and lower special education placement rates in counties that received more funding for Smart Start when those children were younger. What’s more, they found that Smart Start raises the academic achievement of all children in a community, whether they were in child care or not.

 The Senate’s proposal to rob the state of this vital program is poor education policy and poor economic policy. This is hardly a growth strategy for our state.  The state’s youngest children are taking the hardest hit.”

Chatham and Orange Partnerships had another great collaboration yesterday.  See below for the link to our Flash Mob for Children yesterday!  I believe it was a great success, albeit “less serious” that the later activities on Jones Street!  Staff and Direct Service Providers as well as local community supporters from both counties participated.  

http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/video/9639651/#/vid9639651

 Here also is a link to an interview later that same day with an Orange County Partnership Board member:

 http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/video/9639641/#/vid9639641