The State Legislative Education Committee is holding a public hearing on Wednesday, 2/21.
We know not everyone has unlimited time for advocacy. We've broken it down into categories so you can participate in whatever amount of time you have! Participate in any or all of these actions. Every bit counts!
Small Action: share our social media post on 2/21 about the legislative session (@childcareforct on Instagram or Facebook)
Medium Action: share to social media AND use our testimony builder to send a letter to committee members
Large Action: sign up to testify on Zoom or in person (THIS IS CLOSED NOW) Please fill out this form by Tuesday, February 20 at 2:00 P.M. We will contact you to give you details on testimony time and format. Don't forget to share our social media while you're waiting to testify!
Child Care for CT is asking our members to speak in favor of two legislative proposals (see below) understanding that they are a starting place and NOT a fix the overall broken system. Alone these bills are insufficient. But, when coupled with the Blue Ribbon Panel recommendations (which we urge them to pass), they are a moving in the right direction.
HB5051 replaces the old Care4Kids regulations with OEC policies to implement the federal CCDBG regulations which have become less onerous than CT's regulatoms dating back to the late 1990’s Welfare to Work days.
SB152 implements Commissioner Bye's vision of a unified State Funding System to contract directly with “ECE” Early Care Education providers rather than the four separate programs (School Readiness, CDC's, Smart Start, and State Head Start)
ADDITIONAL HEARING INFORMATION:
The Education Committee will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 at 11:00 A.M. in Room 1E of the LOB and via Zoom. The public hearing can be viewed via YouTube Live. In addition, the public hearing may be recorded and broadcast live on CT-N.com.
The Speaker order of approved registrants will be posted on the Education Committee website on Tuesday, February 20th, 2024, at 6:00 P.M. under Public Hearing Testimony. If you do not have internet access, you may provide testimony via telephone. If you sign up to testify, we will contact you to let you know what your number is.