The income limit for Connecticut’s child care subsidy program is going up thanks to federal funding.
Early Childhood Education
Posted inEducation, Government, Health, Politics
House approves spending deal that boosts CT defense industry, social programs
The agreement, which increases spending for both “guns and butter,” was reached just days before the current plan expired, averting a government shutdown.
Posted inHealth
School-by-school vaccine data vital to moms of kids with compromised immune systems
The state is expected to release school-by-school vaccination data today. For moms like Rachel McCann and Lindsay David, that information is vitally important.
Posted inEducation
National child care director gets an earful on industry challenges
Parents and child care operators complained about both the lack of affordable, quality care and the difficulty of finding qualified staff.
Posted inEducation
Program aims to reduce the suspension of Connecticut’s youngest students
A state-funded program aims to help prevent the suspension of young children by intervening when a child’s behavior is disruptive.
Posted inEducation
State’s childcare subsidy program receives long awaited funding increase
The $14 million in new federal funds will be dispersed to an estimated 1,200 centers with families who rely on Care 4 Kids certificates to pay for child care.
Posted inEducation
Bye brings passion for social justice to early childhood work
The idea of working to support families motivates Beth Bye in her new post as commissioner of the Office of Early Childhood.
Posted inEducation
State board names education bureau chief as new interim commissioner
State officials are preparing to name a second interim Department of Education commissioner Friday as the search for a permanent leader heads into its seventh month.
Posted inEducation
Lamont names Bye to lead Office of Early Childhood
Gov.-elect Ned Lamont tapped Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, to lead the state Office of Early Childhood.
Posted inEducation
Looking for child care? Here’s our database of quality benchmarks
Child care inspection reports in Connecticut are public documents, but there’s no useful way to search for them online. So we built one. Although the state does license programs to ensure the facilities and homes are safe for children and staff are equipped to handle emergencies, the state’s online database only provides the date that […]
Posted inEducation
Still no state child care rating system, parents left guessing
Children enrolled at Rhonda Strycharz’s home day care program. When Rhonda Strycharz first opened a day care 18 years ago in her New Hartford home, only a few states had a rating system to help parents choose a child care provider. Connecticut was not among them. By last year, 41 states had a county or state-wide Quality […]
Posted inMoney
Wealthier students benefit from art, music over summer while poor kids miss out
More affluent kids are about twice as likely to visit a museum, art gallery, or historical site or see a play or concert over the summer, as compared with their peers from low-income families. That’s according to a new analysis released this month by the federal government, illustrating disparities in out-of-school experiences, which may be exacerbated by rising income inequality.
Posted inMoney
Parties sharply divided over higher ed, labor costs, transportation
Democrats and Republicans offered sharply contrasting spending plans for the next fiscal year. While they shared some common ground involving municipal aid and health care for the elderly and disabled, major disagreements involving labor costs, higher education and revenue stand in the way of another bipartisan budget agreement.
Posted inMoney
Competing CT budget plans rely on April tax bonanza
Democratic and Republican legislators offered competing visions for the next state budget Friday, but both effectively dipped into this spring’s unexpectedly high income-tax revenues to salvage key programs for towns and social services, drawing a sharp rebuke from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inEducation, Energy & Environment, Health, Money, Politics
House sends veto-proof, bipartisan budget to Malloy
With the final flourish of a veto-proof margin, the House of Representatives voted Thursday to give final legislative passage to an overdue, bipartisan budget crafted without the direct involvement of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.