Thursday, March 23, 2006
In The News in Wyoming...
From the Star-Tribune in Casper, Wyoming:
link
Some of this is already mirrored in Minnesota. The TEACH program is an incentive based program already in place and will hopefully be expanded. The QRS (quality rating system) is in the final stages of being prepared. All these amount to positive improvement for child care professsionals that are concerned about quality of care for children.
From the Star-Tribune in Casper, Wyoming:
link
Governor signs child-care bills
By JOHN MORGAN Star-Tribune staff writer
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Sitting in a tiny chair surrounded by children blowing bubbles and playing with toys, Gov. Dave Freudenthal signed into law three House bills and two Senate files Tuesday morning at the AppleTree Learning Center in Casper.
"This bill is an opportunity for the state to improve the quality of child care," he said, as he signed House Bill 92. "I don't think anybody had any reservations that quality child care is important."
The bill provides $1.4 million for task force to develop a quality child-care system in Wyoming. If the task force's work is approved by the Legislature next year, the system could include a rating system and incentive payments for high-quality, private child-care providers.
"This is the best thing the state has done in years," said Kendra West, executive director of the Evanston Child Development Center. "We're finally recognizing how important child care is. Children really miss out on that window of opportunity when they don't enter school until they are 5 years old."
In Evanston, child care is very hard to find, West said. She said her center has more than 300 children, and parents are always asking her to expand.
"This will give us an opportunity to hire additional teachers and provide quality services," she said.
West said most child-care workers are paid minimum wage, don't get any benefits, and can't afford to keep working. Turnover is very high in the child-care business, she said. It's expensive to keep training new employees and hard on the kids, too.
"Little kids need that one-on-one contact with teachers," she said. "We want kids to see the same people every day. It's important to have consistent child-care providers so we can build the bond. We think of our services as an extension of the family."
The bill was originally developed as part of the Children and Families Initiative and was written to establish the child-care incentive program immediately. It was reduced to a study in the recent legislative session.
But supporters say the bill is an important start.
"We hope to develop a strong workforce that is paid appropriately. This bill will also help to train individuals to provide the quality necessary for early child development," said Rep. Elaine Harvey, R-Lovell.
"We will spend next year working out the nuts and bolts. ... We hope teachers will have the opportunity to receive more education and earn a livable wage. Hopefully, this will reduce turnover levels, so schools are not always training new staff."
"This is just the beginning," Freudenthal said. "We have a lot of work to do next year."
Some of this is already mirrored in Minnesota. The TEACH program is an incentive based program already in place and will hopefully be expanded. The QRS (quality rating system) is in the final stages of being prepared. All these amount to positive improvement for child care professsionals that are concerned about quality of care for children.
// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 3:50 PM 
