Bill contains cuts to the Sixpence Early Learning Fund, the Early Childhood Grant Program and Step Up to Quality. The small gains obtained from reductions to early care and education are likely to be lost by resulting future increased costs of special education services, grade retention and youth detention/rehabilitation services.
Sixpence Early Learning Fund has given thousands of Nebraska infants and toddlers at risk a stronger start in life by promoting high-quality early learning opportunities. It recently launched a new website as part of its 10-year anniversary celebration.
Broken Bow Sixpence and partners offer high-quality education to prepare children at risk for lifelong success.
Falls City, Kearney, North Platte, Chadron, Sidney and Gering receive new Sixpence grants to create School-Child Care Partnerships that will serve nearly 600 infants and toddlers, more than half are at risk of arriving at school prepared to learn.
Home child care providers, child care centers, Head Start programs, school-based preschools, faith-based programs and others all have a place in ensuring that Nebraska's children at risk have access to quality opportunities during their earliest years.
NHHS Director Courtney Phillips: Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services has begun to implement policies that incentivize child care providers to improve their program quality, meaning more children at risk who utilize these services may have access to the kinds of environments that close the achievement gap.
Balancing a wide variety of public interests and with great bipartisan support, the Nebraska Legislature again recognized the critical importance of children’s early years prior to adjourning the 2015 legislative session on May 29. Of preeminent importance to First Five Nebraska is public policy that recognizes the development of the brain in the early years literally shapes the learning capacity for the rest of a child’s life. Here's a summary of our highest priority bills from the 2015 legislative session.
With true bipartisanship, Nebraska senators passed and Governor Ricketts signed legislation to allow partnership between child care providers and schools to help young children receive the kinds of early experiences known to foster cognitive and character skills that lead to success in school and life.
The budget stabilizes future funding for Sixpence, Nebraska’s birth to age 3 early learning fund and increases funding for incentives and bonuses in Step Up to Quality.
Nancy Perez was introduced to Sixpence as a teenager when pregnancy complications forced her to drop out of school. Through Sixpence, she discovered her passion for early chlidhood education, and now is a Sixpence parent educator. She was the first parent educator in Nebraska to receive a perfect score on the HoVRS, which the University of Nebraska Medical Center administers to evaluate parent coaches and they support they give.
We know that a significant number of Nebraska’s children arrive at kindergarten unprepared to learn. In fact, more than 64,000 children ages birth-5 are at risk of failing in school. Of these, about 30,000 are infants and toddlers who are not receiving the kinds of early experiences known to support strong brain development during the first three years of life.