AB 123 Passes Assembly Education Committee
By: Anna Ioakimedes
Policy Analyst
Early Edge California
Early Edge Executive Director Patricia Lozano testified on behalf of AB 123 before the Assembly Education Committee on April 24.
Early Edge and Kidango are co-sponsoring AB 123 (McCarty), which provides critical supports to California’s children and their families by expanding access to high-quality state preschool to over 70,000 additional children in a mixed delivery system. AB 123 also raises preschool quality by implementing proven best practices.
What AB 123 does:
- Expands access to full-day, full-year, high-quality state preschool for 4-year-olds living in low-income neighborhoods and all 3-year-olds in poverty
- Increases state preschool teacher pay and qualifications
- Provides scholarships for teachers to pursue higher education in early learning fields
AB 123 passed out of the Assembly Education Committee with a 5-0 vote
In her testimony in support of AB 123, Patricia Lozano described her previous experience as a preschool teacher and how she saw first-hand the impact that high-quality Early Learning has on children and their success in school and social relationships. Patricia’s testimony was accompanied by that of Dr. Betty Robinson-Harris, a 40-year preschool teacher from San Francisco Unified School District, who spoke of the benefits that low-income children gain from preschool and the high unmet need for preschool in underserved areas. Dr. Robinson-Harris is the ECE Committee Chair of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), a key supporter of AB 123.
A number of organizations and individuals, including parents and preschool teachers, voiced their support of AB 123. AB 123 passed out of the Assembly Education Committee with a 5-0 vote.
Next steps
AB 123 will next be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on May 17. This is a public hearing, which you can also watch live on the Assembly’s website here.
Please show your support of expanding access to high-quality preschool to help close the opportunity gap for California’s children by submitting a Support Letter for AB 123 . Letters may be submitted to https://calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates/ by May 13, and a sample letter is available here.
For more information about AB 123, click here.