Political bickering last year stalled legislation creating an Office of Early Education, which led Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to sign an executive order creating the office temporarily to prevent a disruption to the thousands of providers that receive child care subsidies.

On Monday, the Democratic governor announced he plans to again propose legislation for the legislature to approve in the legislative session that begins Feb. 5.

“With another legislative session on the horizon, I believe it’s critical that the office be statutorily created to ensure future continuity of services. A smart, coordinated system that makes sure we are providing quality services to the children who need them is an important part of our effort to give everyone in our state the chance to succeed throughout their lives,” Malloy said Monday in a press release.

The bill — which failed to be taken up for a vote in either the House or the Senate last year — received nearunanimous support in three legislative committees. The new office would coordinate what many call a confusing, expensive and burdensome hodge-podge of child care programs in the state. As proposed by the governor last year, the office would be staffed by 71 current state employees that administer programs in five different state agencies.

Jacqueline was CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter, and an original member of the CT Mirror staff, joining shortly before our January 2010 launch. Her awards include the best-of-show Theodore A. Driscoll Investigative Award from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists in 2019 for reporting on inadequate inmate health care, first-place for investigative reporting from the New England Newspaper and Press Association in 2020 for reporting on housing segregation, and two first-place awards from the National Education Writers Association in 2012. She was selected for a prestigious, year-long Propublica Local Reporting Network grant in 2019, exploring a range of affordable and low-income housing issues. Before joining CT Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.

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