Early Edge Blog

Early Edge’s Legislative Briefing Shares Highlights and Learnings from Its 2023 Educational Early Learning Tour

April 4, 2024

On March 19th, Early Edge California gathered experts from California and across the country for a legislative briefing to share highlights from our 2023 Educational Early Learning Tour, which visited universal preschool programs (UPK) in Boston and New Jersey, as well as to hear about best-practices and considerations for implementing these programs within a mixed-delivery system. Early Edge thanks the briefing’s co-sponsors, Assembly Members Al Muratsuchi, Luz Rivas, and Kevin McCarty.

Watch an Overview of the 2023 Educational Early Learning Tour

Thank you to the Heising-Simons Foundation and First 5 LA for generously sponsoring the 2023 Educational Early Learning Tour.

The briefing featured remarks from Early Edge’s Executive Director, Patricia Lozano, Assembly Members Al Muratsuchi and Luz Rivas, and LaWanda Wesley, Government Relations Director for Child Care Resource Center, who all attended the Early Learning Tour. Hanna Melnick, Senior Policy Advisor of Learning Policy Institute gave a presentation on the differences in UPK program structure in Boston, New Jersey, and California.

The audience then heard a robust discussion from the panel, which included TeeAra Dias, Interim Executive Director of Early Childhood, Boston Public Schools, Sarah Neville-Morgan, Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, California Department of Education, Cynthia Rice, formerly of Advocates for Children of New Jersey, and Jennifer Troia, Chief Deputy Director, California Department of Social Services.

Some of the key takeaways from the panel discussion were:

Focusing on elements of quality during implementation is just as important, if not more important than focusing on increasing access. The two need to happen in tandem to promote equitable UPK programs for children and families.
Alignment of curriculum, coaching, and pay parity across all program settings is important to supporting successful mixed-delivery UPK programs and the recruitment, training, support, and retention of the workforce.
Strong leadership and vision are critical to building strong partnerships between school districts and community-based programs to realize mixed-delivery UPK programs. Boston’s efforts to include Family Child Care in its UPK program have been successful due to the time and effort put into supporting providers and understanding the unique needs that each program setting has.
New Jersey’s UPK program was successful in large part due to the Abbott Court Decision that required districts serving low-income children to provide access to UPK programs. The mandate was a critical lever to ensure UPK implementation happened.
Considerations for additional requirements for educators to support an increase in quality should be coupled with funding to support the covering of tuition and related expenses. When New Jersey implemented a requirement for a B.A., it covered the cost of the existing workforce to achieve the degree and did so in a way that ensured that the educators never had to pay anything out of pocket or cover up-front costs. This helps ensure the retention and recruitment of the existing, experienced workforce

Thank you to our presenters and panelists for providing a rich discussion of reflections and important takeaways for attendees to consider as California continues to implement universal preschool.

View Photos